France’s antitrust authority is investigating Microsoft following concern it is degrading search results performed by rivals who pay to use Bing technology.
Bloomberg reports that officials are weighing if Microsoft has abused its power in the niche market for search-engine syndication by having the Bing search engine return degraded search results.
The officials have quizzed rival operators about their agreements, according to people familiar with the matter, reports Bloomberg.
Microsoft says it is fully co-operating with the investigation.
The investigating agency is not commenting.
Microsoft isn’t the major player in the European search market – Google is. But Microsoft has a lucrative business syndicating search capabilities to third parties.
Microsoft, meanwhile, is working on another front to avoid a potential US antitrust fine.
In this case, one American big tech firm complained to authorities about the actions of another.
Salesforce-owned Slack complained to the EC about Microsoft charging users almost the same for using Microsoft Office with or without the Teams video and chat app.
German rival alfaview filed a similar grievance in 2023, Reuters reports.
In 2024, the EC instructed Microsoft to ‘unbundle’ the Office and Teams products so that customers could opt to buy them separately rather than as a combined package.
However, the price difference between Office with Teams and Office Without Teams was just 2 euros, a pricing which undermined the intent of unbundling.
Reuters reports that Microsoft racked up 2.2 billion euros in EU antitrust fines two decades ago for bundling two or more products together.
Microsoft is now considering making the price difference larger.
