Did Microsoft just try to gaslight us? The tech giant has seemingly backtracked on changes to the account sign-in experience.

Microsoft will not change its account security default settings after all. Despite a support document appearing briefly and a notification appearing for Outlook users, Microsoft accounts will not remain signed in automatically.

Microsoft reversing its stance on the change will likely be welcomed since many criticized the change when it was announced. But the strange thing is that Microsoft does refer to the situation as backtracking or anything of the sort.

“There will be no changes to Microsoft users’ commercial (Microsoft Entra) or consumer (Microsoft account) sign in experiences in February,” said Microsoft corporate vice president of identity & network access program management Alex Simons to The Verge. “Media reports were based on incomplete information mistakenly published by a Microsoft product team. The incorrect notifications have been removed.”

That statement raises an eyebrow as well as some questions. What information was incomplete? Why were notifications sent out to users about the change? If "there will be no changes" why did the support document say "your sign-in experience is changing" in its subheading?

If you take Microsoft's statement at face value, there aren't any changes on the way and there either never were or the changes were not placed in context properly by the tech giant and the media. But if that is the case, that subheading does not make sense. Nor does the fact that the document said the following:

"The web browser sign-in experience is changing when you sign in to any product or service using your Microsoft account. Starting in February 2025, you will stay signed in automatically unless you sign out or use private browsing.

If you sign in on your own computer, your browser will remember your sign-in information, but if you sign in on a computer, phone or tablet that doesn't belong to you, or is accessed by other people, you should follow the steps below to use a private browsing window instead."

You can view an archived version of the support document from January 19, 2025 thanks to the Wayback Machine.

The notification to Outlook users said, " Your sign-in experience is changing You'll stay signed in unless you use private browsing or explicitly sign out.

Microsoft should clarify what information was missing from its support document (which has since been taken offline) and the Outlook notification. Those items were created by Microsoft for some reason, even if they were published accidentally.

It would have been a bit strange if Microsoft made a support document for a change that was never planned. Perhaps the change was only meant for certain users. There's also a chance the change is planned for a different date, which could be clarified easily.

I have reached out to Microsoft for clarification on the situation and will update this piece with any new information.