Harry Potter Ad Invades Windows Desktops

Microsoft's Bing Wallpaper app has been found to display full-fledged advertisements on users' desktops, specifically for J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter + Fantastic Beasts film collection. This ad appears as a wallpaper replacement for PCs using the Bing Wallpaper app, but it's unclear if it also shows up on devices with Windows 11's built-in Spotlight feature.

The Harry Potter community has expressed their discontent over this practice, with some users calling it an 'enshitification' of Windows. One user pointed out that they used four PCs on the same day and only one showed the ad, while the others displayed a different wallpaper.

Microsoft's Bing Wallpaper download page quietly mentions that users may receive in-app notifications with promotional offers from the company. However, this language doesn't explicitly state that wallpapers could become advertisements.