Ads in Windows File Explorer too?

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Just because you haven’t seen advertising in Windows File Explorer doesn’t mean Microsoft isn’t testing that feature, as Florian Beaubois found out. While going through his Documents folder in Windows 11, he saw a banner ad for Microsoft Editor. In a statement to The Verge, Brandon LeBlanc, senior program manager at Microsoft, acknowledged that the banner ad was genuine, but clarified that it was “experimental” and that it “was not intended to be published externally and was turned off.” Though these ads weren’t meant to be visible to the world, it’s become apparent that Microsoft can run them in Windows 11, and the company’s short statement doesn’t rule out ads appearing in file browsers in the future. Microsoft has been experimenting with ads in Windows for a decade. It already places ads on Windows 10 lock screens and in the Start menu, and annoying ads have popped up in the task bar.

⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Microsoft accidentally reveals that it is testing ads in Windows Explorer.”

⇨ The Verge, Tom Warren, “Microsoft says Windows 11 File Explorer ads were ‘not intended to be published externally’.”

2022-03-16