European Union regulators on Tuesday charged Microsoft with breaking antitrust rules by bundling its Teams video conferencing and collaboration software with a suite of other productivity tools, giving it an unfair advantage over rivals.
Regulators said businesses essentially had little choice but to take Teams if they wanted other software made by Microsoft.
On Monday, regulators accused Apple of violating competition rules because of its App Store policies.
The Microsoft case has its roots in the Covid-19 pandemic, when videoconferencing and collaboration tools like Zoom, Slack and Teams became essential for remote workforces.
In 2020, Slack, now owned by Salesforce, complained to regulators that Microsoft’s bundling of Teams with other productivity software was anticompetitive, setting off the initial E.U.
Persons:
Slack, Apple
Organizations:
Regulators, Microsoft, European Union, Google, Salesforce