Thought Leadership
Microsoft is aggressively promoting Edge and Bing: rewards for referrals and a new app for switching to Bing are drawing criticism.
Microsoft is testing a new referral program for the mobile version of its Edge web browser. Users have the opportunity to invite friends via a personal link and collect Microsoft Rewards points in return. An overview of the promotional campaign conditions:
- Rewards: Referrers receive 500 Rewards points for each newly recruited user (maximum of 7,500 points per month).
- Requirements for new customers: The invitee must never have installed Edge before and also receives 500 points.
- Usage requirement: The reward is only paid out once the new customer actively uses the browser and the Bing search engine on at least two days within two weeks.
Mysterious app switches third-party browsers to Bing
In parallel, security experts discovered a previously unannounced mini-application named “Microsoft Recommended Search” on the company’s official download servers (download.microsoft.com).
The sole purpose of the program is to switch the default search engine of installed third-party browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Brave to Bing via a toggle switch. To do this, the tool inserts corresponding extensions into the browsers and subsequently redirects users to the Microsoft Rewards page. Although the application is currently not being distributed automatically via Windows 11 updates, its appearance in communities raises fears of even more intrusive promotional measures in the future.
Criticism of the company’s desperation tactics regarding Edge
In forums such as Reddit, the promotional campaign faces significant criticism. Industry observers note that Edge is technically a competitive and modern browser. However, the attempt to push users to use Edge and Bing with rewards and automated tools generates pushback among many users and fuels thoughts of switching to alternative operating systems such as Linux.
(Editorial Team)
