Windows 11 default desktop Chat/Teams widgets are Edge web views that eat up hundreds of MB of memory: https://archive.is/pyvEO
Edge also preloads in the background even if it's not the default browser: https://archive.md/AAjz4
Both links also detail how to disable these "features."
You seem to be under the mistaken impression that Microsoft is independent of the US government.
At this point, you have to consider every big company an arm of the USG and almost all of their long term technological goals are directed from FBI/CIA/NSA to create the world's most extensive control network