Mozilla calls out Microsoft for continuing to undermine browser choice
The Firefox developer says that Microsoft is still playing hard to get when it comes to free web browser choice.
By Cybernews.
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- Mozilla says Microsoft still steers Windows users toward Edge and interferes with rival browser choices.
- Experts reviewed Microsoft’s browser choice tactics in Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Mozilla says Microsoft made no changes 100 days after receiving the latest findings.
- Mozilla plans to share the report with regulators and policymakers outside the European Union.
Key Takeaways by nexos.ai, reviewed by Cybernews staff.
Microsoft continues to steer Windows users toward Edge and should immediately stop using harmful design tactics to deny people free web browser choice.
That’s what Mozilla claims.
Over 2 and a half years ago, the Firefox developer published its Over the Edge: How Microsoft’s Design Tactics Compromise Free Browser Choice report, which extensively documented how Microsoft used harmful design patterns to steer Windows users away from rival browsers and toward Edge.
For example, Edge comes pre-installed on Windows computers, is prominently pinned to the taskbar, and is hard for users to uninstall. Furthermore, users are forced to interact with Edge if they wish to install an alternative browser.
The researchers also identified preselected checkboxes to steer users toward Microsoft services, including Edge. On top of that, Microsoft's repeated use of defaults, prompts, misleading wording, privileged system interfaces, and restrictions on competing browsers meant that users weren’t given an uninterrupted choice.
In July 2026, Mozilla published a second report on Microsoft’s web browser choice titled Over the Edge 2.0.
Two independent leading experts on deceptive design, Harry Brignull and Cennydd Bowles, looked at Microsoft’s tactics for free web browser choice across 4 regions: Germany, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Their conclusion was short and simple: Microsoft still doesn’t allow users to download, set as the default, or keep using alternative browsers without harmful interference.
Mozilla shared and discussed the findings of the researchers with Microsoft. However, a hundred days later, no adjustments have been made. Instead, most of the patterns from the 2024 report are still there, and the patterns from the 2026 report are even worse.
“It became clear that Microsoft will respect user choice only when it’s forced to. It’s important to think about what that means for a company whose operating system runs on more than a billion machines. Microsoft’s standard for respecting people’s choices is legal compliance. Not what’s best for its users,” Mozilla says in a statement.
The tech company says it will take the report’s findings to regulators and policymakers in India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
In the EU, the Digital Markets Act (DMA) has steered Microsoft to implement changes. Still, it can do better, Mozilla feels.
