Microsoft
EU accuses Microsoft of breaking competition laws
The European Union on Tuesday acused Microsoft for breaking antitrust laws by bundling its Teams and Office products in an “abusive” manner.
A statement from the European Commission, sent to inform companies of concerns raised against them, stated this.
This is the first time Microsoft has been accused of antitrust crimes in the European Union in fifteen years.
The commission, which is in charge of enforcing antitrust laws throughout the 27 member nations of the union, stated that it believes Microsoft may have given Teams a “distribution advantage” by preventing users from selecting Teams at the time of software purchase.
It stated that restrictions on rival messaging apps’ compatibility with Microsoft products may have increased the advantage.
“The European Commission has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that Microsoft has breached EU antitrust rules by tying its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular productivity applications included in its suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365,” says the European Commission.
Indications are the software behemoth separated Teams from Office 365 as a stand-alone programme before unbundling Teams from Office in Europe last year.
However, charges have not been avoided despite the unbundling.
“We are concerned that Microsoft may be giving its own communication product Teams an undue advantage over competitors, by tying it to its popular productivity suites for businesses,” says Margrethe Vestager, the head of competition policy in Europe.
“If confirmed, Microsoft’s conduct would be illegal under our competition rules. Microsoft now has the opportunity to reply to our concerns.”
Microsoft may be subject to fines equal to up to 10% of its yearly global sales if the business is found guilty of antitrust offences.
Earlier report stated that Microsoft-backed, OpenAI, acquires database analytics startup, Rockset, to expand AI capabilities.
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