In its latest push to increase the adoption of Edge, Microsoft is apparently increasingly arketing the browser to users of its Defender security suite in a move that has drawn criticism for blurring the line between advising and advertising.
The user interface design choice has been slated for deceptively steering users towards installing Microsoft’s in-house browser by promoting a feature called ‘In-browser protection with Microsoft Edge for Business.’
The tool is designed to help administrators separate personal and business browsing profiles in order to keep confidential company information secure.
Microsoft accused of deceptively enticing customers to Edge
Although the tool, which offers protection similar to a reverse proxy, can be a useful control for companies, the way Microsoft has gone about pushing it has sparked online debate. The prompt appears as a security recommendation rather than clearly being identified as an advertisement.
Chrome currently accounts for around 65% of all browser sessions on desktops, compared with just 14% for Edge. Still, Edge has the edge over Safari, which only accounts for around 9% of the desktop browser market (according to Statcounter), with Firefox and Opera rounding up the top five.
When asked about the criticism, a Microsoft spokesperson emphasized (via The Register) that administrators have full control over the experience and can disable the feature if desired.
However, this isn’t the first time that Microsoft has faced scrutiny over its Edge marketing tactics. Earlier this year, Mozilla published a report criticizing the company for using dark patterns to push users towards Edge, highlighting examples of targeted Edge ads on Google’s website.
More broadly, Microsoft has also been struggling with the adoption of its latest operating system. Windows 11 finally broke the 30% market share last month, but still accounts for fewer than one in three instances of Windows OS. Windows 10 accounts for a sliver under 65%.
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