Distraction Rebellion

Microsoft Score, stance & sources

A mixed bag: genuine privacy tooling and family controls across Windows, Xbox, LinkedIn and Azure — but a poor recent security record, heavy-handed bundling, rising emissions from AI build-out, and an ongoing US tax fight. Many “good” fixes arrived only after regulators sharpened the knives.

Overall (rounded to 0.5)

2.5 / 5

Weighted average of categories.

Regulatory Heat

High

CSRB security rebuke; executive-email breach; EU Teams unbundling commitments.

What’s voluntary vs. forced?

A lot of the headline “improvements” followed law & enforcement: DMA changes in Windows, global Teams unbundling, and security overhauls post-incident. Not exactly a voluntary saint’s halo.

Category scores

1 Data 2 Money (incl. Monopoly) 3 Design 4 MH & Minority 5 Env 6 Workers 7A Elections 7B Lobbying 7C Geopolitics 8 Youth 9 Tax Updated
2.5 2.6 2.5 3.2 2.8 3.0