Microsoft investigating reports of Edge browser sending URLs to Bing API

A Reddit user has discovered that Microsoft’s Edge browser is sending URLs that you visit to its Bing API website.

The latest version of Microsoft Edge sends a request to bingapis.com with the URL of “nearly” every page you navigate to.

Microsoft knows about the issue, and is currently investigating.

First spotted by Reddit user u/hackermchackface, the user said, “Searching for References to this url [bingapis.com] give very few results, no documentation on this feature at all. Json response shows type as “FollowableStatus” which yields zero Google results, which is rare.”

According to Rafael Rivera, a software engineer, the issue stems from a new poorly implemented feature in Microsoft Edge. In a statement given to The Verge, Rivera said, “Microsoft Edge now has a creator follow feature that is enabled by default. It appears the intent was to notify Bing when you’re on certain pages, such as YouTube, The Verge, and Reddit. But it doesn’t appear to be working correctly, instead sending nearly every domain you visit to Bing.”

The creator follow feature was first spotted in January 2022 as part of the browser’s deeper integration with YouTube that adds the followed channels to a new ‘Collections’ tab in Edge’s top right toolbar, where you can view an RSS-like feed of content from all creators you follow.

According to The Verge, disabling the creator follow feature stops Edge from sending your URLs to bingapis.com. To disable the feature, head to Settings > Privacy, Search and Services and scroll down to Services. Toggle off the switch next to ‘Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge.’

“We’re aware of reports, are investigating and will take appropriate action to address any issues,” said Caitlin Roulston, director of communications at Microsoft, in a statement to The Verge.

Source: u/hackermchackface Via: The Verge