SharePoint downloading unnecessary "preload" file

When opening a SharePoint folder in Safari on MacOS, an empty file named "preload" is downloaded without any user interaction. Currently Microsoft is not reacting any more (as usual) and blames it to be an issue "at tenant level" (as usual) - which it isn't.

While this is weird (love this word...) this is also unacceptable and potentially dangerous behaviour.

Has anyone experienced the same issue and found workaround?

I get this nearly all the time. Suspect it relates to Safari only, but has been happening for weeks now.