Sure, let’s have any example of this by any reputable news source then.

literally the first hit for "microsoft spyware" is the following:

https://www.gnu.org/proprietary/malware-microsoft.en.html

gnu.org not reputable? Hey, no worries, it's an ENORMOUS ANNOTATED list. Have fun.

We're not talking about MS the company, we're talking about VSCode, the product, as OP's claim was that it's apparently well-known that VSCode is spyware. Ctrl-F "VSCode", "Visual Studio" both come up with 0 results.

It hasn't in the past, but because it is a Microsoft product, you would be wildly naive to think that they wouldn't have a tendency to in the future. You're technically correct in the most pointless way possible.

OP claimed vscode is “spyware-ridden”. It is not.