Microsoft Chromium Edge Browser Malfuction

Microsoft’s Chromium-based Edge web browser appears to be sending all URLs visited to its Bing API website.

A Reddit user, with the name Hackermchackface, noticed that full URLs visited were showing up on bingapis.com, including locally hosted URLs and IP addresses. Microsoft said it’s investigating the issue.

Further investigation found that the issue stemmed from Microsoft Edge’s “follow content creator” feature. This feature lets people follow their favorite YouTubers and other content creators in Edge, receiving updates on their latest uploads.

Previous versions of follow content creators would send URLs to Bing APIs only for websites that supported the feature, such as Pinterest, YouTube, or Instagram.

This issue seems to have popped up in Edge version 112.0.1722.34, released on April 7. Turning off this feature may resolve the problem.

The feature is now enabled by default in Microsoft Edge and is incorrectly “sending nearly every domain you visit to Bing.”

Threat actors could use this information to impersonate you and steal your identity or for personalized phishing emails or other attacks. Data miners could also sell your information for use in targeted advertising.

Steps to disable the’follow content creator’ feature

• Open the Microsoft Edge web browser.
• Go to Settings.
• Navigate to Privacy, Search and Services.
• Scroll down to Services.
• Turn off Show suggestions to follow creators in Microsoft Edge