European Union regulators on Tuesday accused Microsoft of breaking antitrust rules by bundling its Teams video conferencing and collaboration software with a range of other productivity tools, giving it an unfair advantage over rivals.
Regulators said Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with other established software tools in Office 365 and Microsoft 365, which includes programs such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, amounted to an illegal abuse of market dominance that they could not to match competing companies like Zoom and Slack. . Regulators said businesses had little choice but to get Teams if they wanted other software made by Microsoft.
The charges are just the latest in a barrage of announcements by the European Union in recent months as it seeks to crack down on the world’s biggest tech platforms. On Monday, regulators accused Apple of violating competition rules over its App Store policies. Amazon, Google, Meta, TikTok and X are also facing investigations related to their business practices and services.
Microsoft’s case has its roots in the Covid-19 pandemic, when video conferencing and collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack and Teams became essential for the remote workforce. In 2020, Slack, now owned by Salesforce, complained to regulators that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with other productivity software was anti-competitive, triggering the original EU investigation.
EU regulators said Microsoft had an unfair “distribution advantage” by not allowing customers to choose whether to buy Teams when they buy other software. Rival makers of video conferencing tools also face challenges making their services work with other Microsoft software, regulators said.
“The conduct may have prevented Teams’ rivals from competing and in turn innovating, to the detriment of customers,” the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm conducting the investigation, said in a statement.
The charges filed Tuesday are one step in a long process. Microsoft can now respond to the complaint, but if the two sides do not reach a settlement, the company could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual global revenue.
The case parallels antitrust charges brought decades ago by the US Department of Justice against Microsoft for bundling Internet Explorer into its Windows operating system, a case that was eventually settled.
On Tuesday, Microsoft said it had taken steps to resolve the dispute. Last year, Microsoft agreed to sell Teams separately from its Office products.
“Having decoupled the Teams and taken initial steps towards interoperability, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the committee’s remaining concerns.” Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said in a statement.
The European Commission said Microsoft’s changes were “inadequate” and called for more changes to “restore competition,” without specifying what those changes should be.
