Microsoft Edge submits nearly any visited page to Bing. Here is how you turn that off!

Martin Brinkmann
Apr 26, 2023
Microsoft Edge
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Microsoft's Edge web browser is submitting nearly any visited webpage to Bing automatically. The privacy issue was detected last week and reported on Reddit, and users have been scrambling ever since to find out why the browser is doing that.

According to the information posted, Microsoft Edge is contacting the domain bingapis.com for nearly every webpage that is visited in the web browser.

The user who discovered the privacy issue created a second thread in which they provided additional details on the issue.  According to the information posted there, the sending is caused by a new feature of Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge 112.0.1722.34 include an updated feature, Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge, which is turned on by default. The feature is not new, but it was limited to a handful of sites, such as YouTube, in previous versions of Edge.

Microsoft appears to have unlocked the feature so that it is not limited to just a few sites anymore. Whenever a website is visited, Microsoft Edge is submitting the full URL of the page to the Bingapis domain. While it does not appear to be possible to follow other sites, apart from the few that Edge supported already, it still appears that Edge is sending all URLs to Bing.

The Verge asked Rafael Rivera, a software engineer, to investigate the issue, and Rivera came to the same conclusion. The change is caused by the Follow Creator feature of Microsoft Edge.

The Follow feature works like a basic RSS reader in Edge. When enabled, Edge displays a follow option in its address bar on supported sites. A click on it follows the creator of the page, e.g., a YouTube channel, and Edge notifies the user from that moment on whenever new content is posted.

Tip: did you know that you can subscribe to YouTube channels using RSS?

Microsoft Edge users who do not use the Follow Creator feature may want to turn it off to block the sending of page information to Microsoft.

Since it is turned on by default, it affects all users of the web browser.

  1. Open the Microsoft Edge Privacy Settings, either by loading edge://settings/privacy in the address bar or by selecting Menu > Settings > Privacy, search and services.
  2. Scroll down to the Services section on the page.
  3. Toggle "Get notified when creators you follow post new content" to off.
  4. Toggle "Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge" to off.
  5. Restart Microsoft Edge.

Microsoft Edge won't submit visited pages to Bingapis anymore. Microsoft told The Verge that it is investigating this.

Closing Words

Nearly every URL that is visited in Microsoft Edge is submitted to a Microsoft domain in up to date versions of Microsoft Edge. It is a huge privacy issue, considering that Edge submits the full URL, including any data that it contains, and that it reveals almost the entire browsing of each user to Microsoft.

Now You: Do you use Microsoft Edge?

Summary
How to block Microsoft Edge from sending visited sites to Bing
Article Name
How to block Microsoft Edge from sending visited sites to Bing
Description
Find out how to block Microsoft Edge from sending nearly every visited webpage to Microsoft Bing to protect your privacy.
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Ghacks Technology News
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Comments

  1. Saphir said on April 28, 2023 at 12:53 pm
    Reply

    Just a question… How many of you are using a credit card or debit card to pay in local shops or online? No matter what you do or where you are – privacy is dead in todays internet. This outcry is ridiculous! How many times had Mozilla or Google Chrome massive PR disasters? How often has Mozilla betrayed their own user-base?

    Anyway…. No matter what for a software you use, it should be logical that any data submission feature should be deactivated.

    And last but not least – ANY function which shares data with a third party – also includeds browser sync – can be a potential source for security incidents!

  2. M$ sucks said on April 27, 2023 at 5:04 am
    Reply

    If people would actually join together and refuse software, hardware, and services from M$, they would go bankrupt. This should happen, this needs to happen. Enough with proprietary spyware and companies in bed with big brother.

    M$ = Convicted Monopoly

    Why would you support anything they put out? JUST IGNORE THEM and stop feeding them.

    1. basingstoke said on April 27, 2023 at 10:42 am
      Reply

      MS sucks but older Windows had a lot going for them – XP/Vista/7 days are revered by many. Hell, Office had a period of time where it was pretty amazing (2007,2010,2013, I believe). Microsoft even made some decent mice and keyboards, I am using a “compact optical mouse” model 1016.

      They’ve really fallen down over the years, but there was a time not too long ago where they were “on top” and I would say justifiably so. What I mean is, they suck, but they didn’t always suck.

  3. hehe said on April 27, 2023 at 5:02 am
    Reply

    I use gpu passthrough on Linux, running a modified Windows image in vm. The future is a grand indeed!

  4. Eric said on April 27, 2023 at 1:26 am
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    “Here is how you turn that off!”

    By stop using Edge?

  5. Anonymous said on April 26, 2023 at 11:10 pm
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    Microsoft is currently comparable to Meta and Google in terms of dishonest advertising companies. The only Microsoft product I still use, Windows, is being ruined by all this data harvesting nonsense.

  6. Anonymous said on April 26, 2023 at 5:07 pm
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    I have a question about using MS Edge as the UI for a hospital’s medical records system. Do you think that private patient information is being exposed to Bing?

  7. Tachy said on April 26, 2023 at 3:19 pm
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    Yes I use Edge, for a few certain things, when I purposely want to leave an easy to follow trail.

    Those settings were already off as I go through everything every time the browser updates since all new features are turned on by default.

  8. Anonymous said on April 26, 2023 at 3:09 pm
    Reply

    An informative article would have explained what this “feature” has to do with sending almost all full URLs to Bing. Isn’t the author even curious about this ? Why are each of the interested readers supposed to do that work themselves to find out ?

  9. Herman Cost said on April 26, 2023 at 3:06 pm
    Reply

    I use Edge as a third or fourth browser and have it set to clear all cookies and history on exit. I checked to make sure the browser was up to date (it was) and then checked the settings Martin identified. Interestingly, the settings were both set to off. I’m not sure why. I thought it might be because of a group policy setting tweak I made over the last year or so, but I checked and don’t see anything that would disable the settings. I’m using Brave search as a the default search engine, so maybe that is a factor, although that does not really make sense to me.

    In any case, I’m glad my PC is resisting Microsoft’s information grabs!

    PS For those who only want to see postings on this site from real people, try this UBO filter:

    http://www.ghacks.net##div.post,a.home-posts,a.home-category-post:not(:has-text(/Martin Brinkmann|Mike Turcotte|Ashwin/))

    1. ipsno said on April 26, 2023 at 6:10 pm
      Reply

      didnt work for me. Perhaps I copied the wrong part or put it in the wrong place?

      1. Cassette said on April 28, 2023 at 12:25 am
        Reply

        It won’t work with the http:// in there. Take that out and there’s really no need for the “www.” either.

      2. Herman Cost said on April 27, 2023 at 12:07 am
        Reply

        It needs to be copied and then pasted into the My Filters section of the UBO dashboard.

  10. John said on April 26, 2023 at 12:43 pm
    Reply

    Thought Edge at first might be good, but as in everything Microsoft touches they mange to screw it up. Edge is a bloated mess anyway, I don’t see it going anywhere.

    1. James Kirk said on April 28, 2023 at 5:36 am
      Reply

      MS really added bloat when they added the ability in Edge to give you ‘loans’ few months ago.

    2. John G. said on April 26, 2023 at 1:03 pm
      Reply

      That’s true, Microsoft has the rare power to destroy everything it touches while working good, however Edge is still a good browser actually. In the future I don’t know, unless knowing what Microsoft does very often, probably Edge will become a real disaster like W11.

  11. Nameless said on April 26, 2023 at 11:52 am
    Reply

    There are other crap to disable on that list…not that I use Edge but I went and turned them all off anyway….

    Save time and money with Shopping in Microsoft Edge

    Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge

    Get notified when creators you follow post new content

    Show opportunities to support causes and nonprofits you care about

    Get notifications of related things you can explore with Discover

    what is all this crap? lol

  12. LOL said on April 26, 2023 at 10:54 am
    Reply

    Just uninstall Edge.

    I don’t know who is ignorant enough to even keep Edge installed and who is so out of touch with reality to even use it.

    I would say Edge is the best browser for downloading other browsers, but that’s not true, since once I uninstall Edge, I have to use IE again to download another browser. And IE still works in Windows 11 – you just have search for “add-ons” in the start menu and it opens some IE settings and from there you can open IE itself.

    1. John G. said on April 26, 2023 at 11:11 am
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      @LOL, Edge Chromium is a good browser nowadays, and currently it has a lot of good features. If you know how to config them you can get one of the best browsers in those times (e.g., ublock origin + enhanced security + anti-track options). Indeed it has at least four times more options to configure to your taste than Chrome and near the double even than Brave or Vivaldi).

      1. James Kirk said on April 28, 2023 at 5:34 am
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        I doubt it touches the customization options of Vivaldi. That has a ton of options. Eithercase, I liked some stuff like vertical tabs in Edge.

        But I am still sticking with Firefox as primary browser since it allows customization of UI elements(like right click menu) via userchrome.css file.

    2. LOL said on April 26, 2023 at 10:54 am
      Reply

      Microsoft are so stupid and incompetent they can’t even properly remove IE from Windows.

  13. John G. said on April 26, 2023 at 10:43 am
    Reply

    I don’t understand the problem, just toogle the option off. You aren’t going to die after doing it.

  14. zirco said on April 26, 2023 at 10:28 am
    Reply

    Now You: Do you use Microsoft Edge?

    No. Firefox ESR or unGoogled Chromium, thanks.

  15. Cor Invictus said on April 26, 2023 at 10:03 am
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    The thing about those settings is that they are self-aware little organisms with own consciousness and will eventually switch back on by themselves automatically. The only way to stop that is to remove the whole thing completely with some 3rd party uninstaller. I’m using Revo (free) and it’s doing great job. Just make sure it has “show system components” option checked in the settings in order to see Edge in the list and then use “advanced” when uninstalling.

  16. hg said on April 26, 2023 at 9:50 am
    Reply

    It’s on and greyed out for me :-{{{

  17. FanboyNZ said on April 26, 2023 at 9:31 am
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    The fact this happens and its the default is sad. Avoid Edge & Bing if you value privacy.

    1. ECJ said on April 26, 2023 at 2:19 pm
      Reply

      Correct. And I say this as someone who was a long time Edge fanboy.

  18. Fred said on April 26, 2023 at 8:26 am
    Reply

    Typical MS filth. This is just one of the many reasons Edge should be deleted. It’s a simple process. Windows runs so much better once the Edge virus is removed and and MS stops redirecting your browser and search engine of choice.

    1. Anonymous said on April 27, 2023 at 12:55 am
      Reply

      And how do you do that? Afaik, ir isnt possible.

  19. Jim P said on April 26, 2023 at 7:50 am
    Reply

    If one is running Windows 7, the last version of Edge supported is Version 109.0.1518.100. If one goes into settings/privacy/services”/”Get notified when creators you follow post new content” of this version of Edge it is completely grayed-out, with the toggle in the on position. Consequently, one cannot toggle it to the off position. Any thoughts?

    1. Jim P said on April 26, 2023 at 7:43 pm
      Reply

      First, after reading all these responses to my post it seems the response by ShintoPlasm is the most helpful and, hopefully, the correct answer. Second, to cover a number of the other comments: 1) both Edge and Chromium went out of Win 7 support at the same time the difference between the two is that 0patch provides security updates to Edge but not Chromium and 2) I only use Edge as a last resort for those websites/pages that do not function or render properly in Firefox or my other browser.

    2. ShintoPlasm said on April 26, 2023 at 1:52 pm
      Reply

      That’s just the button’s default position but the option really is disabled. If you want the aesthetics of a disabled button, you’ll need to enable the top button first, disable the ‘get notified’ button, then disable the top button again.

    3. TelV said on April 26, 2023 at 1:25 pm
      Reply

      Why would you use Edge in the first place? After all, there are plenty of privacy-respecting browsers around.

  20. Andy Prough said on April 26, 2023 at 7:21 am
    Reply

    I thought that when one used Edge that they just automatically assumed that all their browsing history was shared with various Microsoft projects and with some 3rd parties. Just like with Chrome/chromium and Google.

  21. Anonymous said on April 26, 2023 at 6:58 am
    Reply

    m$: This is… about your security, nothing to do with your privacy. No…, well, we aren’t monitoring you…, but… “the govt”.

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