‘Microsoft has made commitments about Teams to the European Commission’

Microsoft has made commitments about its chat service Teams to the European Commission (EC). Reuters writes this based on internal sources. In 2020, Slack filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft, because the tech giant would have too much power with Teams.

The commitments should prevent the opening of a formal antitrust investigation, claims Reuters. It has made a tentative offer of concessions to try to allay the EC’s concerns, one of those involved told the news agency. Because Slack’s complaint is still under investigation, the EC refuses to answer Reuters’ questions. Microsoft also chooses not to respond.

Two years ago, Slack filed an official complaint against Microsoft with the EC. Slack wants the European Commission to launch an antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s practices because of its dominant position in the market. Microsoft would use that dominance to antagonize competitors like Slack. The complaint mainly focuses on Teams. That chat service comes standard with the market-dominant Office, Slack says, allowing it to be installed by millions of users and “hiding the real costs for business users.”

Reuters reported last year that a potential EC investigation into Teams is being prepared. The main focus is on the period from 2016 to 2021. Teams came on the market in 2017.