Microsoft faces EU antitrust investigation over Teams and Office bundling

Microsoft is under investigation by the European Commission for potential antitrust practices linked to its bundling of Teams with its product suites, a concern first raised by Slack in 2020. The investigation aims to establish whether Microsoft denied consumers a choice and violated EU competition rules.

The Complaint and Initial Actions: The issue came to light when Slack filed a complaint in 2020.

Slack alleged that Microsoft illegally bundled Teams with Microsoft 365 or Office 365.

Additionally, it claimed Microsoft blocked some users from removing the software.

Microsoft attempted to prevent a probe by agreeing to remove Teams from its Office suite in April.

However, it was unclear how this removal would occur, and the action wasn't sufficient to prevent further concerns.

The European Commission's Investigation: Despite Microsoft's efforts, the European Commission has decided to investigate.

The Commission is looking into whether Microsoft gave Teams a distribution advantage by not allowing customers to choose whether to include it in their productivity suites.

Another aspect of the investigation is whether Microsoft limited interoperability between its productivity suites and competing products.

Microsoft's Response: Microsoft has publicly acknowledged the investigation and expressed respect for the European Commission's work.

A spokesperson from the company stated that they take their responsibilities seriously and will cooperate fully with the Commission.

The company also voiced its commitment to finding solutions that address the Commission's concerns.

Past Antitrust Incidents: This is not Microsoft's first encounter with the European Commission regarding antitrust issues.

In 2009, the company agreed to offer EU users a range of browser options instead of forcing Internet Explorer use.

However, in 2013, a "glitch" prevented the browser choice screen from appearing consistently, resulting in a €561 million ($625 million) fine.

Upcoming Developments: The current investigation does not have a specified deadline for decision making.

This means it might be some time before any conclusions are announced concerning Microsoft's case.