The European Union accuses Microsoft of violating antitrust rules by bundling Teams with office software

LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators have accused Microsoft of “possibly abusive” practices that violate the bloc’s antitrust rules by linking its Teams messaging and video conferencing app with its widely used enterprise software.

The European Commission said it was concerned that the US tech giant was “restricting competition” by bundling Teams with essential office productivity apps such as Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

The commission, the 27-nation bloc’s top antitrust authority, said it suspected Microsoft may have given Teams a “distribution advantage” by not giving customers the option of having Teams when they purchased the software.

The Commission opened its investigation in July 2023, after rival Slack Technologies, which makes popular workplace messaging software, filed a complaint with Brussels.

The commission said that although Microsoft has begun offering some software packages without teamsthe changes are not enough to address their concerns and that more needs to be done to “restore competition”.

“Having disaggregated the teams and taken initial interoperability steps, we appreciate the additional clarity provided today and will work to find solutions to resolve the Commission’s remaining concerns.” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a prepared statement.