The European Commission has judged that Microsoft Teams, the tech giant’s workplace messaging and video chat application, has breached EU antitrust rules in a preliminary ruling.
The Commission expressed concern that Microsoft’s 2019 decision to make Teams part of its Office 365/Microsoft 365 applications suites had restricted competition for communication and collaboration software products.
The Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft Teams last July on foot of a complaints by video conferencing rivals Slack and Alphaview.
The Commission is particularly concerned that Microsoft has granted Teams a “distribution advantage” over rival professional productivity applications by not giving customers the choice of whether or not to access Teams when they subscribe.
“This advantage may have been further exacerbated by interoperability limitations between Teams’ competitors and Microsoft’s offerings. The conduct may have prevented Teams’ rivals from competing, and in turn innovating, to the detriment of customers in the European Economic Area,” the Commission said in a statement.
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