Microsoft's Bing stops pretending to be Google to trick you

Microsoft has a suite of software services that aim to steal a slice of the pie from their Google counterparts. However, sometimes the Redmond giant resorts to potentially dishonest tactics to get you to use its services. A few days ago, the search engine Bing was caught trying to look like Google Search. Now, Microsoft has quietly stopped its attempts to make people think they are using Google Search instead of Bing.

Bing search engine has stopped trying to make you think you are actually using Google

A recent report showed how Microsoft was “cloaking” Bing to make it look as much like Google as possible. More specifically, this happened when people used Bing to search for “Google.” Instead of showing a list of results like it normally does, Bing showed a search bar in the middle of the page with a prominent “Doodle” background very similar to the ones Google shows on its home page. You can see what Microsoft’s trick attempt looked like below.

Of course, by using said search bar, you were actually still using Bing, not Google. The actual results for your “Google” search on Bing were at the bottom of the screen. These types of tactics are frowned upon in the industry as they are more typical of companies that try things like forcefully installing software—many times malware—on your device or tricking you in one way or another.

Chrome boss’ opinion about it: “new low Microsoft“

Now, a few days after the report, Microsoft has stopped its attempts to pass off Bing’s search bar as Google’s. The company didn’t issue any statement on the matter, but the entire industry had already seen what had happened.

The news reached the ears of Parisa Tabriz—Google Chrome GM—who gave her opinion on the bizarre situation. “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice,” she said on her X/Twitter account. “New year; new low Microsoft,” Tabriz added, picking at the wound.

This is not the first strategy of this kind that Microsoft has used to try to prevent users from moving to Google products. In the past, Microsoft Edge modified Chrome’s download sites, for example. The browser even launched pop-ups that gave the impression of being malware to “scare” anyone trying to download Google’s browser.

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