Microsoft is embroiled in one of the most high-profile antitrust investigations in recent years. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) started it all. The investigation is putting Microsoft’s practices in key areas such as cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence under the microscope. The heightened scrutiny reflects growing concerns about the Redmond company’s dominant role in strategic technology areas.
Microsoft Under Investigation: Here Are the Details
The investigation follows more than a year of preliminary interviews with partners and competitors of the Redmond company. Now the FTC has issued a formal request for documents. This is to gather details about the company’s business practices. Among the stated goals is to verify whether Microsoft is exploiting its market position. With the aim of hindering competition
Another central aspect of the investigation concerns bundling, or combining different services and software into a single package. The Company is accused of integrating tools such as Teams, Word and Excel in a way that disadvantages competitors. Companies such as Slack and Zoom have complained that this practice distorts the market, giving an unfair advantage to the company’s products.
The investigation is also relevant from the point of view of the company’s history. Microsoft was already involved in a major antitrust case in the 1990s. Specifically, when the government