After the U.S. FTC opened Antitrust cases against Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, they've now filed one against Microsoft
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After the U.S. FTC opened Antitrust cases against Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, they've now filed one against Microsoft

1 MSFT

It was reported late yesterday that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has opened a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, including of its software licensing and cloud computing businesses, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The probe was approved by FTC Chair Lina Khan ahead of her likely departure in January. The election of Donald Trump as U.S. president, and the expectation he will appoint a fellow Republican with a softer approach toward business, leaves the outcome of the investigation up in the air.

The FTC is examining allegations the software giant is potentially abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data from its Azure cloud service to other competitive platforms, sources confirmed earlier this month.

The FTC is also looking at practices related to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence products, the source said on Wednesday.

NetChoice, a lobbying group that represents online companies including Amazon and Google, which compete with Microsoft in cloud computing, criticized Microsoft’s licensing policies, and its integration of AI tools into its Office and Outlook.

“Given that Microsoft is the world’s largest software company, dominating in productivity and operating systems software, the scale and consequences of its licensing decisions are extraordinary,” the group said.

The FTC has demanded a broad range of detailed information from Microsoft, Bloomberg reported earlier on Wednesday.

Until now, Microsoft has been somewhat of an exception to U.S. antitrust regulators’ recent campaign against allegedly anticompetitive practices at Big Tech companies.

Facebook owner Meta Platforms, Apple, and Amazon.com Inc. have all been accused by the U.S. of unlawfully maintaining monopolies.

Alphabet’s Google is facing two lawsuits, including one where a judge found it unlawfully thwarted competition among online search engines.

It is unclear at this time whether President Trump will ease up on Big Tech, whose first administration launched several Big Tech probes. For more on this, read the full Reuters report.

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