Microsoft facing antitrust investigation by FTC

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft. The Redmond-based tech company is being accused of abuse of power.

According to Reuters, the FTC is examining allegations that Microsoft is potentially abusing its market power in productivity software. By bundling office services, security software and cloud services and imposing punitive licensing terms, the company is smothering competition.

In addition, the consumer watchdog is looking at practices related to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence products.

Competing tech companies have been complaining for years that Microsoft is abusing its market dominance to impose unfair licensing terms to lock in clients and exert control over the cloud market.

For example, by charging a 400 percent mark-up to keep Windows Server running on the systems of rival cloud computing providers, Microsoft practically condemns customers to stick with Microsoft Azure.

On top of that, users of rival cloud systems would also receive less and more limited security updates compared to clients of Microsoft Azure, which hurts cybersecurity and undermines innovation.

“The cloud market will get more and more restrictive if things don’t happen now. We are asking the European Commission to act now. We’re asking them to really look at this issue, help customers decide and keep the choices going for them,” Amit Zavery, Vice President of Google’s cloud department, recently said about Microsoft’s business practices.

NetChoice, a lobbying group that represents online companies like Amazon and Google, is criticizing Microsoft’s licensing policies and its integration of AI tools into MS Office software as well.

“Given that Microsoft is the world's largest software company, dominating in productivity and operating systems software, the scale and consequences of its licensing decisions are extraordinary,” the group told Reuters.

The outcome of the antitrust investigation remains to be seen. The probe was approved by Lina Khan, Chair of the FTC. Since Donald Trump was recently re-elected president and he’s assigning confidants at key positions in his administration, chances are he will appoint a fellow Republican to take her place to carry out new policy plans.

Microsoft isn’t the only company being investigated for unfair business practices. Last week, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed al motion in Washington’s Federal Court to sell its web browser Chrome in order to break the tech company’s monopoly on the search engine market.

In addition, the DOJ has voiced the option of divesting Android, in case selling Chrome doesn’t restore the competition on the market.