The European Commission expresses concerns about competition in connection with…

The European Commission (EC) has accused Microsoft of violating antitrust laws by bundling its Teams messaging and video conferencing app with business software, giving it an unfair advantage over rivals such as Slack.

The EC informed Microsoft that combining Teams with the tech giant’s Office 365 and Microsoft 365 applications “limits competition in the market for communication and collaboration products.”

“Maintaining competition in remote communication and collaboration tools is essential because it also fosters innovation in these markets,” said Margrethe Vestager, EC Vice President for Competition Policy.

Following a complaint by Salesforce’s Slack, the European Commission launched an investigation into Microsoft in 2023.

To address antitrust concerns, in August 2023, Microsoft separated Teams from commercial Office products in the EU and Switzerland. These changes were implemented in April 2024.

However, the EC’s preliminary investigation found that the move was “not sufficient to address its concerns and that further changes to Microsoft’s behavior are necessary to restore competition.”

Microsoft could be fined up to 10 percent of its annual worldwide turnover. The EC could also impose remedies if it considers that additional steps are necessary to restore competition.

“With Teams unbundled and initial interoperability steps taken, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to address the Commission’s remaining concerns,” Microsoft CEO Brad Smith said in an email to Mobile world live.

The European Commission has noted that there is no legal deadline to conclude its investigation into Microsoft’s alleged anti-competitive practices.