By Samuel Gonzalez
Nov 29, 2024, 11:47 AM EST
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) opened a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Microsoft.
FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan approved the investigation before his possible departure in Januarywith the arrival of the new president Donald Trump. It is expected that with the arrival of the Republican president, he will appoint someone from his party with a softer business stance. So, even though this investigation is started, the result will remain up in the air.
This entire process began with the objective of analyzing accusations from some competitors that the software giant potentially abuses its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing conditions. Earlier this month, it was noted that Microsoft’s Azure cloud service does not allow its customers to easily move their data to other competitive platforms.
A source close to the case also noted that the FTC is examining practices related to cybersecurity and artificial intelligence products.
NetChoice, a lobby group representing Internet companies such as Amazon and Google, which compete with Microsoft in cloud computing, criticized Microsoft’s licensing policies, and its integration of artificial intelligence (AI) tools into its programs. Office and Outlook.
“Given that Microsoft is the largest software company in the world, and they dominate in productivity software and operating systems, the scale and consequences of their licensing decisions are extraordinary,” the group said.
In September, Google reported Microsoft’s practices to the European Commission, stating that forced its clients to pay a 400% surcharge to continue using Windows Server at rival cloud computing operators, and offered them later and limited security updates.
Microsoft is not the only tech giant that has been investigated by the FTC. Meta Platforms (owner of Facebook), Apple and Amazon.com Inc. have been accused by the United States government of maintain illegal monopolies. Alphabet’s Google is facing two lawsuits, including one in which a judge ruled that it illegally hindered competition among Internet search engines.
With the change in government, it is unclear whether the new Trump administration will be softer on big tech companies. His first administration launched several investigations into them. However, Microsoft has already benefited from Trump’s policies in the past.
In 2019, the Pentagon awarded a $10 billion cloud computing contract to Microsoft, when this tender was expected to go to Amazon. Later, Jeff Bezos’ company alleged that Trump exerted undue pressure on military officials so that its Amazon Web Services unit did not get the contract.
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