EU charges Microsoft with antitrust violations for bundling Teams with Office 365

The European Commission has charged Microsoft with antitrust violations for bundling its Microsoft Teams chat app with its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscriptions. This is the first antitrust charge against Microsoft in the EU in 15 years, following previous cases involving Windows Media Player and Internet Explorer. The Commission's preliminary view is that Microsoft breached EU antitrust rules by tying Teams to its productivity applications, and Microsoft has received a statement of objections outlining these concerns.

Despite Microsoft's efforts to unbundle Teams from Office in Europe and make it a separate app globally last year, these measures have not alleviated the EU's concerns. Margrethe Vestager, head of competition policy in Europe, stated that Microsoft might be giving Teams an undue advantage over competitors by integrating it with its productivity suites. Microsoft has expressed its commitment to working with the EU to find solutions.

The investigation originated from a complaint by Slack in July 2020, which alleged Microsoft's anti-competitive practices with Teams. If found guilty, Microsoft could face a fine of up to 10 percent of its annual worldwide turnover and may be required to make even more further changes to its software products.