Throughout over a decade in the field of journalism, numerous instances of design plagiarism have come to light, yet nothing quite compares to Bing’s recent exposé, which aimed to mislead users into believing they were navigating Google’s interface.

For many years, individuals have relied on pre-installed applications to explore superior alternatives, often abandoning the defaults after making the switch. Take Internet Explorer, for instance; it served as a gateway for many to download more popular browsers like Firefox or Chrome, only to subsequently vanish from usage. Currently, a similar trend is occurring with Microsoft’s search platform, Bing, much to the company’s chagrin.

In the Microsoft Edge browser, if users didn’t adjust any settings, Bing would serve as the default search engine. Earlier this month, entering the term “Google” in the address bar would surprisingly direct users to a page that closely resembled a Google search result, albeit it was a masquerade on Bing. This deception included a fabricated Google doodle, a search field featuring Google-esque text underneath, and result layouts that imitated Google’s design principles, alongside numerous replicated UI elements. This peculiar occurrence was initially reported by 9to5Google.

Alarmingly, the impersonated page even managed to obscure Microsoft Bing’s branding by auto-scrolling past it. Typically, the Bing logo and search bar are prominently displayed atop search results, but this simulation cleverly concealed those elements.

A few weeks following this revelation, and after it caught substantial media attention, the ruse seems to have come to a close: searching for “Google” in Bing now directs users to a traditional Bing results page. This shift indicates Microsoft’s awareness of users leveraging Bing to find Google, a scenario they clearly disapprove of.

Parisa Tabriz, Vice President of Google Chrome, articulated her discontent regarding this tactic on X (the platform previously known as Twitter). In her post, she remarked, “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Microsoft spoofing the Google homepage is another tactic in its long history of tricks to confuse users & limit choice. New year; new low @Microsoft.” For those dissatisfied with such tactics, switching your default browser on Windows 11 is a straightforward process; more details can be found here.