Microsoft's anticompetitive practices

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This article needs additional work to meet the wiki's Content Guidelines and be in line with our Mission Statement for comprehensive coverage of consumer protection issues. In particular:

1. Needs more incident variety - Most, if not all of these incidents listed refer in some way to a browser developed by Microsoft. We should invest time into getting more anticompetitive incidents that are unrelated to browsers here for the sake of variety
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The software company Microsoft has had a history of harming its competition on devices running Windows. This is a historical list of every incident where Microsoft has harmed its competition.

Background

Soon after the introduction of applications that came preinstalled with Windows, Microsoft has had the incentive to force users into the native applications installed, rather than any third-party programs. As an example, with the release of Windows 10, the preinstalled web browser Microsoft Edge has had a litany of incidents where the web browser forced users into using it rather than the browser the user installed.

History of incidents

Anticompetitive lawsuits

United States v. Microsoft Corp.: 2000

In the case United States v. Microsoft Corp., 87 F. Supp. 2d 30 (D.D.C. 2000), Microsoft's conduct taken as a whole was described as a "deliberate assault upon entrepreneurial efforts that, could well have enabled the introduction of competition into the market for Intel-compatible PC operating systems". Further, "Microsoft's anti-competitive actions trammeled the competitive process through which the computer software industry generally stimulates innovation and conduces to the optimum benefit of consumers."

US Department of Justice, U.S. v. Microsoft Corp.: 2001

In a major antitrust case brought by the US Department of Justice, U.S. v. Microsoft Corp., 253 F.3d 34 (D.C. Cir. 2001), Microsoft argued that there was no barrier to entry in the market they were in. A central issue at that time was whether Microsoft could bundle the web browser Internet Explorer with the Microsoft Windows operating system. The District Court stated the following in the court case:

"The District Court condemned a number of provisions in Microsoft's agreements licensing Windows to OEMs, because it found that Microsoft's imposition of those provisions (like many of Microsoft's other actions at issue in this case) serves to reduce usage share of Netscape's browser and, hence, protect Microsoft's operating system monopoly."

The court specifically identified three main license restrictions for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) that were considered problematic:

1. The prohibition upon the removal of desktop icons, folders, and Start menu entries
2. The prohibition for modifying the initial boot sequence
3. The prohibition of otherwise altering the appearance of the Windows desktop

The case was eventually settled, and did not result in a company breakup.

Section III.H of the Consent Decree required Microsoft to "allow end users and OEMs to enable or remove access to all middleware products­, including web browsers, e-mail clients, and media players ­through a readily accessible, centralized mechanism." End users and OEMs should be able "to specify a non-Microsoft middleware product as the default middleware product to be launched in place of the corresponding Microsoft middleware product."

Microsoft Edge

Resetting primary browser: 2017 - Present

Edge has frequently been resetting the default browser to itself without consent from the user. While there are methods available online to disable this, it is tedious to achieve, especially for users who are not tech-savvy.

Inability to permanently remove the browser: 2018 - Present

During major updates for Windows, users have been reporting their installations of Edge being reinstalled to their devices without their consent.

Importing content from other browsers without consent: 2020 - Unknown

Users have reported on frequent occasions that Edge has imported user data from browsers such as Chrome and Firefox without first requesting consent from the user.

Harassing users into using Edge: 2020 - Unknown

In 2020, users for Windows 10 faced repeated harassment from Edge to use this browser instead of the user's chosen default browser. Some examples included the browser opening on startup, the browser being forced into full screen, being incapable of closing the browser until the user acknowledges the pop-up, and the browser pinning itself to the taskbar.

Prompts to stop users from installing competing browsers: 2021 - Present

A screenshot that shows an example of Edge harassing the user into using Edge.

Since December 2021, users who install other web browsers, such as Chrome, Brave, or Opera, will face a pop-up on their screen telling users to instead use Edge. Some of the messages of these pop-ups include:

“Microsoft Edge runs on the same technology as Chrome, with the added trust of Microsoft.”

“That browser is so 2008! Do you know what’s new? Microsoft Edge.”

“‘I hate saving money,’ said no one ever. Microsoft Edge is the best browser for online shopping.”

This has been reported to occur on devices running either Windows 10 or Windows 11, and frequently aims to directly harm the market share of Chrome, despite the browser itself running on the same codebase as Chromium.

Windows 11

Increasing the difficulty to switch default browsers: 2021 - Present

After an update in 2021, computers running Windows 11 had the systems that handled modifying the web browser defaults. Rather than allow the user to simply switch the default web browser, file types typically accessed via web browsers, such as HTM, HTML, SVG, and more have to be individually modified to have the default opening application changed. This has angered companies maintaining competing web browsers and consumers alike over this change.

Even if users modify all of these default settings, other features on the device, such as the taskbar's weather widget, which if opened, will create a new tab specifically in Edge.

Microsoft attempts to justify this by stating:

“With Windows 11, we are implementing customer feedback to customize and control defaults at a more granular level, eliminating app categories and elevating all apps to the forefront of the defaults experience,” “As evidenced by this change, we’re constantly listening and learning, and welcome customer feedback that helps shape Windows. Windows 11 will continue to evolve over time; if we learn from user experience that there are ways to make improvements, we will do so.”

Bing web search

Attempting to harm competing web browsers: 2023 - Unknown

A side-by-side comparison between the Brave browser and Microsoft Edge, where Bing attempts to sway the user away from switching the browser.

When doing a web search for an alternative web browser through Bing, Microsoft's in-house developed search engine that is also used as the default for Edge, the search engine's AI will attempt to bury the search results for the web browser from the user.

Beyond this, users specifically using both Edge and its default search engine will continue to see harassment at the top of the search, attempting to keep the user on the browser.

Disguising itself as another search engine: 2025 - Present

Currently, when a user does a web search for "Google", the search engine will disguise itself as a generic search engine that would appear to look like Google in the eyes of the average user.

Family Safety

Blocking Chrome from launching: 2025 - Present

A feature seen within Windows 11's parental controls is Family Safety. A key problem shown from this feature is that it can questionably ban certain applications from properly running on the device, with no notice to the administrator in charge of the device. In June 2025, this feature banned the string "Chrome", which blocked the web browser Chrome from functioning. Schools in particular use this feature on devices given out for students to complete classwork remotely, and as Chrome holds the majority market share of web browser usage, (65-70%) there has been mass reports of students being unable to complete their classwork strictly due to this flaw.

Currently, Microsoft has neglected to inform users on rolling out a fix in the future, and the only solutions available to users is to either rename the executable on the affected device or disable "Block inappropriate browsing" inside the Family Safety settings.