Fake Chrome ad from Microsoft mocks Google
For months, Microsoft has been going after Google with its Scroogled ad campaign, but a new ad that reportedly came from Microsoft is the harshest yet.
[Updated, 2:46 p.m. May 17: A spokesman for Microsoft has confirmed that the company did make the video, but it was for internal purposes.]
Right in the middle of Google’s annual developers conference in San Francisco this week, a new ad made its way onto YouTube, criticizing Google’s Chrome browser.
The ad, which can be seen above, closely mimics Google’s real Chrome ads, but instead of playing up the browser’s features, the ad warns users that Chrome tracks everything they do.
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“Everything everywhere is tracked to target you with ads, to monetize your personal info,†the ad says.
The ad then goes on to say users get tracked even while they surf the Web using Chrome while they’re in bed, at the doctors and even when they use the restroom.
“Google watches everything you do,†it says. “And uses it to make a profit off of you.â€
The ad was found on the website iCosmoGeek, which says the video was supposed to be internal to Microsoft but got leaked. Some, though, wonder whether that’s true or not, considering Microsoft hasn’t asked YouTube to take down the video.
The ad has also surfaced just a few days after Google CEO Larry Page took the stage at Google I/O to talk about how sad he was about the lack of openness and cooperation there currently is in the tech industry. If the Scroogled ad is indeed by Microsoft, then Page is probably a little sadder now.
Neither Microsoft nor Google could be reached for comment.
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