Microsoft faces new EU charges! This time it's because of Teams
If ultimately found to violate the EU's "Antitrust Law", Microsoft may face a hefty fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue
According to reports, the European Union is intensifying its antitrust investigation into Microsoft's video conferencing app Teams and is expected to soon formally charge the software giant. Regulatory authorities are concerned that Microsoft may be limiting fair competition in the video conferencing industry through technical and pricing means.
Despite Microsoft's concessions last month to split Teams from Office and other software in Europe and globally, EU officials remain unsatisfied, believing that the actions of this tech giant are far from sufficient.
Competitors of Teams are worried that Microsoft may enhance the compatibility of its own products with the Office ecosystem, while reducing users' motivation to choose other video conferencing software through pricing strategies. The lack of data portability also makes it difficult for existing Teams users to switch to other alternatives.
This move signifies the end of a decade-long truce between EU regulators and Microsoft. The last confrontation was in 2013 when Microsoft was fined €561 million for failing to comply with the decision to remove the bundled browser IE from Windows.
If found to violate EU antitrust laws, Microsoft could face a hefty fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue. In the 2023 fiscal year, Microsoft's revenue was $212 billion.
Media reports citing sources familiar with the matter suggest that the European Commission may formally charge Microsoft in the coming weeks, although Microsoft still has the opportunity to make concessions at the last minute to avoid formal charges.
Microsoft declined to comment on this but reiterated that it will "continue to engage with the European Commission, listen to market concerns, and seek practical solutions that benefit European customers and developers."
In addition to the investigation into Teams, Microsoft is also facing scrutiny from the EU regarding its relationship with OpenAI. Under the EU's Digital Markets Act, Microsoft is one of the "gatekeeper" companies (including Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft) with special responsibilities in the EU market, and its close cooperation with OpenAI may violate EU antitrust rules.
Furthermore, European cloud computing providers have accused Microsoft Azure of abusing its dominant position, forcing users to purchase its products and suppressing local startups