Microsoft Aggressively Pushes Edge and Rewards on Chrome users in Incognito Mode

It seems there will be no end to Microsoft targeting Google Chrome users. Today, we noticed Bing was displaying ads for Microsoft Edge and Rewards Extension when searching for Microsoft Edge in Chrome incognito mode.

Microsoft owns Edge and Bing, while Google owns Chrome and Google Search. Google dominates the market in search engines and browsers, but Microsoft is catching up with Edge after switching to the Blink engine/Chromium.

You might have already known about Microsoft’s strong promotion of Edge when searching for Chrome on Bing. However, things seem to have gotten worse recently.

Bing shows Microsoft Edge and Reward Extension Ads in Chrome incognito Mode

Today, we noticed in Chrome Incognito mode that Microsoft Bing was showing Microsoft Edge promotions and prompting users to install the Microsoft Rewards extension, which allows you to turn your Bing searches into gift cards.

This is a serious privacy concern. Bing employing such practices raises questions about Microsoft’s commitment to user privacy.

Additionally, we noticed Edge’s private mode on Bing is also promoting Microsoft Edge when you search for Chrome.

While you might see Microsoft’s promotion of its products on Bing as a normal marketing tactic, targeting Chrome users in incognito mode significantly raises privacy concerns.

Incognito mode is designed to provide users a private browsing experience. The Microsoft Bing Search with Rewards extension, when enabled, can collect data about user browsing habits. This data can be used to personalize ads and potentially track user behavior. In incognito mode, users expect a higher level of privacy, and the promotion of the Rewards extension can compromise this expectation.

While Microsoft has a right to promote its services, it’s essential to do so in a way that respects user privacy. By actively promoting the Rewards extension and Microsoft Edge in Chrome incognito mode, Bing is crossing a line and potentially undermining user trust.

Apart from this, we showed a sneak peek at the upcoming new Edge Settings Page and Microsoft to allow users to search for anything on screen from a Windows 11 desktop using an Edge browser.

Additionally, Edge may introduce a Windows Energy Saver option within its Edge Efficiency Mode, provide a Picture-in-Picture (PiP) icon for media controls on the Windows taskbar, and potentially remove the News Feed from the New Tab Page.