Microsoft Accused of Unfair Competition in Chat and Video Conferencing App Bundling: The European Commission Investigates

Microsoft has been accused by the European Commission of violating European competition rules by bundling the Teams video conferencing app with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 office suites. The commission sent a statement of objections to Microsoft, claiming that the company used its dominant position in the software market to unfairly promote its own chat and video conferencing tools over competitors.

Microsoft has integrated Teams with popular applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook at no additional cost, making it impossible for users to opt-out of access to Teams when they subscribe to these applications. The commission raised concerns about anti-competitive behavior due to apparent interoperability limitations between Microsoft’s services and competitors’ products.

The investigation into Microsoft’s actions began in July 2023 following complaints from Slack and Alfaview. Although Microsoft made some adjustments to the distribution of Teams in response to the investigation, the commission believes that these changes are not sufficient to address all competition concerns.

If found guilty, Microsoft could face significant fines up to 10 percent of its global turnover. The company will have an opportunity to respond to the allegations, but there is currently no deadline for the investigation to be completed.