The Browser Choice Alliance has thrown its support behind a new complaint filed by Opera before the Brazilian competition authority, CADE, on 29 July. We believe it is a case of huge significance for the entire browser ecosystem.
Opera’s complaint aims to ensure that consumers in Brazil can freely choose which browser to use on their Windows PCs – without interference – and to have that choice respected. CADE appears to have listened, moving within days to open an investigation into Microsoft’s practices.
The details of the complaint
Opera accuses Microsoft of various distinct but complementary anti-competitive commercial and technical practices. These each give an unfair advantage to its Edge browser, impede free and effective consumer choice on Windows PCs, and harm consumers.
The complaint seeks to address the following issues:
All-or-nothing bundled rebates that – in combination with Windows licensing practices – force major PC manufacturers to set Edge as the exclusivepreinstalled, default “out of the box” browser on all of the device maker’s Windows devices across all of their PCs globally, thereby blocking a critical channel for alternative browsers to reach users and denying users access to PCs with differentiated browser experiences out-of-the-box.
Dark pattern tactics designed to then build a moat around Edge. Microsoft interferes with users trying to use a browser of their choice and coerces them to keep using Edge. For example, Microsoft undermines users’ ability to freely and easily download rival browsers or switch default browsers, through technical limitations and deceptive messages. If a user manages to set a different browser as their default, Microsoft will ignore this choice when opening PDF files or links in Outlook, Teams, Windows Search, and Widgets. Microsoft also uses system updates to drive users back to Edge.
Locking down browser choice further on “S Mode” devices by preventing users from changing their default browser, impeding the installation of alternative browsers, and even downloading an alternative browser. “S mode” is a closed version of Windows targeted at key segments such as education and enterprise.
Browser Choice Alliance expert Gene Burrus, ex-Microsoft attorney and advisor to the Browser Choice Alliance, comments:
For over a decade, Microsoft has used a variety of shifting tactics to hinder consumers from reliably accessing their preferred browser or setting it as a default on Windows PCs, the dominant PC operating system gatekeeper — a device that is used by billions of users to access the web at work, school, and home.
We agree wholeheartedly with Opera’s assessment that Edge meets all the criteria that warrant an investigation by CADE. Not only CADE, but regulators around the world must increase their scrutiny of Microsoft’s practices, to protect consumer choice and facilitate fair competition.
Opera’s fight for consumer rights
Opera has a long and admirable history of holding Microsoft to account for anticompetitive practices.
In Europe, Opera has already taken legal action by challenging the non-designation of Edge as a “gatekeeper” service under the EU Digital Markets Act (Case T-357/24, Opera Norway v. Commission). The Browser Choice Alliance equally supports that case, which is pending before the EU Courts.
There has been some progress made in the EU. In recent months, with its back against the wall, Microsoft appears to have started doing the bare minimum to shake off criticism in Europe.
But the Browser Choice Alliance sees these announced changes for what they are: belated, reluctant, and partial. And many of the key elements in the Brazil complaint remain unaddressed even in Europe: no impact on preinstallation and out-of-the-box default setting, the ‘DMA-free’ S mode still ships in the EU, and Microsoft still implements several practices that impede free user choice of browser or fail to respect that choice.
What’s next
Opera’s complaint suggests a series of remedies, including:
- Removing restrictions on PC makers from preinstalling and setting alternative browsers as the default on devices of their choice, so that PC makers are free to assemble differentiated devices that best meet different user needs.
- Require Microsoft to enable customers to easily and freely download and set third-party browsers as default for any entry point where Edge can be activated as the default browser, including on “S mode” devices
- Ending tactics that override your preferences, reset your settings, or restrict downloads, as well as manipulative design that obstructs your freedom to choose and use your preferred browser.
Brazil is one of the largest and most connected countries in the world, and plays a key role in the global conversation about digital freedom. But the complaint recognises that these practices are global. The Browser Choice Alliance and its members (including Opera) have observed, and been vocal about, many of these.
We encourage CADE, and regulators around the world, to investigate Microsoft’s practices and impose appropriate remedies.