Microsoft is taking away this Edge feature you never should have used if you care about privacy

What you need to know

• It appears that Microsoft will completely remove an Edge feature that allowed you to follow content creators through the browser.
• Microsoft removed the option to follow creators through the address bar last year, but you were still able to keep track of new content from creators you had already followed.
• That is no longer the case, as the latest Edge Canary build lacks the "Following" tab altogether.
• The follow creators feature was mired with privacy concerns, since the feature seemed connected to a bug that would send the details of URLs visited by a person to Bing.

Microsoft Edge will soon lose a feature that allows you to follow content creators through the browser. Or at least that appears to be the case based on the latest Edge Canary build. Leo Varela spotted that the most recent Canary build of Edge lacks the "Following" tab in the Collections pane and any mentions of the ability to follow content creators within Edge's Settings.

Microsoft removed the option to follow creators by clicking a button in the address bar last year. But it appears the ability to follow content creators will soon be gone altogether.

While the feature was popular among certain Edge users, there were privacy concerns connected to it, making its apparent deprecation a relief to some.

Privacy concerns

The ability to follow content creators within Edge was a useful feature, though a bit redundant since so many sites allow you to follow people and get notifications about new content. But Edge housed the creators you followed in a simple pane that was easy to access. Unfortunately, the history of the feature is tied to privacy concerns.

Last year, a Reddit user discovered that Microsoft Edge seemed to share almost all visited URLs with Bing. That behavior was connected to the follow creators feature, which was enabled by default. Investigation by The Verge determined that poor implementation of a feature within Edge was likely the culprit. As a result, just about every website you visited was sent to Bing.

That situation raised privacy concerns among users. Microsoft told The Verge it would investigate the situation and address any issues. "We’re aware of reports, are investigating and will take appropriate action to address any issues," said a Microsoft spokesperson to The Verge. Now, it appears those at the company determined the best way to handle the privacy issue was to remove the feature entirely.

Microsoft removed the "Follow this creator" button from the Edge address bar last year, but it was still possible to use the feature in a limited capacity. If you already followed creators, you could continue to follow them through Edge and see new content in the "Following" tab inside the Collections panel. That is no longer the case in the latest Edge Canary build. The "Following" tab is gone entirely, suggesting Microsoft plans to deprecate the feature.

Without official word from Microsoft, it's impossible to confirm plans for the follow creators feature in Edge, but it seems likely the tech giant has shifted away from any plans related to following creators through Edge.