EU Prepares Potential Antitrust Investigation into Microsoft Teams

The European competition authority is considering opening an investigation into Microsoft and the fact that it is bundling Teams with Office. This is evidenced by the fact that Microsoft and competitors have received questionnaires on this subject from the authority.

According to Reuters, the European Competition Authority is looking at the period from 2016 to 2021. Teams came on the market in 2017. The questionnaires were allegedly sent to Microsoft and its ‘rivals’ in the field of work apps. This probably concerns parties such as Slack, Google, Facebook and Zoom. Sending the questionnaires does not mean that there will be an official investigation, but it is an indication that Europe is working on it.

Slack filed a complaint about Microsoft’s practices in mid-2020. The company accused Microsoft of abusing its monopoly position, because the tech giant would have too much power with Teams. “Microsoft builds a weak counterfeit product and links it to their own dominant Office product, forcing users to install it and blocking its removal,” the company’s lawyer David Schellhase said at the time. “It’s a copy of their illegal behavior during the ‘browser wars’.”

According to Reuters, the questionnaires inform, among other things, whether and how bundling products gives the provider an advantage in both markets, what bundling does with the barrier to entry in the market for work apps and how much revenue the competitors have lost because of this. bundling teams. The questionnaires are not public, but Reuters has been able to see them.