November 28, 2024 – A new alliance formed by five major browsers—Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi, Waterfox, and Wavebox—has emerged to challenge Microsoft’s Edge browser, as reported by tech news outlet GHacks yesterday (November 27th). Dubbed the Browser Choice Alliance, this collective has penned a letter to the European Commission, urging the classification of Microsoft Edge as a “gatekeeper” under the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA defines “gatekeeper” companies as those providing core platform services like social networks and search engines, with a market capitalization of at least 75 billion euros or an annual turnover of at least 7.5 billion euros, along with having at least 45 million monthly end-users in the EU and 10,000 business users annually.
This legal framework restricts certain practices of gatekeeper firms, empowering the European Commission to conduct market investigations and sanction any non-compliance.
The alliance accuses Microsoft of employing various tactics to stifle competition. These include displaying banner ads in Bing search results to discourage users from downloading other browsers, Microsoft Defender SmartScreen popping up misleading warnings to block installations of third-party browsers, and Windows updates forcibly setting Edge as the default browser and redirecting links from apps like Teams or Outlook to open in Edge.
Additionally, the alliance highlights misleading prompt boxes within Windows that nudge users towards recommended settings, which often involve switching to Edge. Furthermore, Edge even attempts to import tabs from other browsers, further encroaching on their user base.
The Browser Choice Alliance argues that fair competition in the browser market is crucial, and Microsoft’s strategies are detrimental to the broader web ecosystem.
