Microsoft has been accused of violating EU antitrust rules by including its cloud-based communication and collaboration software, Teams, with the purchase of its Office 365 online productivity suite. This comes after an investigation by the European Commission based on complaints from Slack and Alfaview. Microsoft had announced plans to unbundle Teams from its Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites in response to the investigation, but the EC believes more changes are needed to restore competition. The Commission is concerned that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with its productivity applications hinders competition and innovation in the European market. Microsoft has taken some initial steps to address the concerns raised by the EC, but more action may be necessary. The findings from the European Commission follow a similar investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority in the UK regarding Microsoft’s licensing practices. Critics believe that Microsoft’s actions may not be enough to avoid regulatory sanctions in both the EU and the UK.
The European Commission rules that bundling Teams with M365 is anti-competitive according to Microsoft.
