Complaint against Microsoft to the European Commission for anti-competitive practices

Three companies filed a complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, accusing the US tech giant of anti-competitive practices in its cloud services, different sources told AFP.

Microsoft “is undermining fair competition and limiting consumer choice” in the cloud services market, one such firm, French company OVHcloud, said in a statement sent to AFP.

Companies complain that under certain clauses in Microsoft's license agreements for their Office 365 services, fees are more expensive if the software is not based on Azure infrastructure, owned by the US group.

They also ensure that the user experience is worse and that there are incompatibilities with other Microsoft products if they don't work with Azure.

In a statement to AFP, Microsoft said that “European cloud service providers have built successful business models with Microsoft software and services” and that they had many options for using them.

“We are continually evaluating how to best support our partners and make Microsoft software available to all our customers in all environments, including those with other cloud service providers,” he added.

The complaint, first reported this week by the Wall Street Journal, was filed last summer with the European Commission's competition authority.

Microsoft is already the subject of a similar complaint in early 2021 also before the European Commission by another group of companies.

The US giant has received several fines from Brussels for anti-competitive practices linked to its Internet Explorer browser, Windows operating system or its program licensing rules.

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