Espionage methods. Microsoft disguises Bing as Google to mislead users

Microsoft continues its attempts to force people to use Bing and Edge instead of Google and Chrome, and this time the corporation has arranged a real test of attentiveness.

If a user uses the Bing search engine in the Edge browser, without logging in, to search for the word «Google», a strange surprise awaits him: a page that is incredibly similar to the Google page, which is still a tab of the Microsoft application.

The search result will contain an image that is very similar to a Google doodle, and even a small text under search bar, — just like Microsoft's competitor. In this case, the page with search results will be scrolled down a little to hide Bing's own search bar, which appears’at the top.

As 9to5Google notes, with this trick Microsoft seeks to either mislead inattentive users who may think they are using Google products, or at least extend the time of using Bing before the user figures it out and switches to the competitor's service.

This trick — is only part of Microsoft's aggressive policy. Last year, the corporation was willing to pay users to switch to Bing and Edge.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116