Microsoft drew attention at the beginning of this month for showing rather misleading Google-style search bar when users searched for the rival engine on Bing. Now, it appears the company is targeting the Chrome browser as well. Spotted by Windows Latest, some users may see a big banner pushing Edge when they search for Chrome while using Microsoft’s browser.
The real dodgy part, however, is the fact that this banner just happens to partially hide the Chrome download link behind a “See more” button.
I wasn’t able to replicate this myself so I can’t comment on whether it’s still up, but experiments like this aren’t always pushed to everyone. As you can see from Windows Latest’s image, however, most of the Chrome link is faded out and looks pretty easy to miss.
With the “fake Google” search bar tactic, you could argue that some people just search for “google” because they see it as a synonym for “search” and they don’t really care about the specific product or company. That argument doesn’t work here. If someone is searching for Chrome while using Microsoft Edge, then they want to switch browsers. It’s outrageous for a search engine to try and hide the link a user has specifically searched for, no matter what the motivation is. Have the tool do its job first, and advertise second.
The banner is also pretty creepy — no one wants their computer to respond to their Internet searches. Self-promotion is the only thing on Microsoft’s mind but for the user, this feels the same as searching for “chocolate shop near me” and Bing responding with “There’s no need for you to eat chocolate.”
The search bar spoof has already been killed, though not before Google jumped at the chance to claim the moral high ground with this X post: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice. New year; new low @Microsoft.”
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice.
New year; new low @Microsoft https://t.co/LKSNNKB7Hy
— Parisa Tabriz (@laparisa) January 6, 2025
I wouldn’t be surprised if this latest experiment disappears soon as well. But whether Microsoft has any other “boundary-pushing” ad ideas up its sleeve is anyone’s guess. Maybe next it will try a redirect trick and take you to Bing when you click on the Google link.
