Microsoft Edge May Import Your Chrome Tabs Without Your Consent

If you use Google Chrome as your default browser on your Windows PC, it seems that Microsoft Edge may automatically import your Chrome tabs without first asking for it. The Verge’s Tom Warren wrote about his own disturbing experience with Microsoft’s Edge browser yesterday, but it seems that other Chrome users have been reporting the same issue on Microsoft’s forums and Reddit since last year.

Microsoft Edge does have a feature that lets users import data from Google Chrome on startup. During the installation process, Edge also suggests users enable a feature that will give them access to all their recent data from other browsers. However, Edge can apparently import that data even when users opted out.

The report from The Verge explained that Edge started importing Chrome tabs without notice after installing the latest update for Windows 11 (KB5034204) on two different PCs. In both cases, Microsoft Edge automatically opened at launch with all tabs imported from Chrome.

It’s not clear how widespread this issue is, and The Verge has been unable to reproduce it on other PCs. However, other users have been complaining about it for months, and Microsoft isn’t exactly unfamiliar with controversial tactics to push Windows users to use its own services like Edge and OneDrive.

Edge importing Chrome tabs without user consent is one thing, but the browser can also sync all this personal data to the Microsoft cloud if users are signed in to Edge with their Microsoft account. This is a serious privacy issue that Microsoft will need to address sooner rather than later.