IT Home reported on May 13 that Microsoft's Edge browser is moving to remove a controversial creator-focused feature to protect user privacy.
Whistleblower @Leopeva64 found evidence in the latest Edge Canary and Dev releases that Microsoft is about to completely remove the ability to allow users to follow their favorite creators in the Favorites panel. This feature was introduced a few years ago, but it is said to have a negative impact in terms of respecting user privacy.
IT Home noted that last year The Verge published a report pointing out that the Edge browser's focus creator feature was seriously flawed, causing the browser to send information about every website a user visits to the Bing search engine. The incident sparked a backlash from Edge users, and while Microsoft announced that it would investigate, it only quietly removed the Follow creator button from the address bar, and users can still see the creators they follow in the "Following" tab of the Favorites panel. However, in the latest Edge Dev and Canary releases, this option is also gone.
For now, Edge users can still find the Follow creator toggle on the Privacy, Search, and Services page in their browser settings, but turning it on won't restore the feature. It's worth noting that clicking on the "Learn More" button in the "Bookmark & Follow" pop-up will take you to the Microsoft support page, which explains how the "Bookmark" feature works, but doesn't mention the option to follow the creator at all. All of this evidence suggests that Microsoft is phasing out this feature. However, it cannot be ruled out that the feature will be relaunched in the future after addressing privacy concerns.
If you're used to following your favorite creators for the latest content, Google Chrome still offers this feature. However, the Follow Creator feature is only available to mobile users. If you're using Chrome browser on your Android phone, you can turn on the Follow Creator feature by enabling the "web-feed" flag.