Feb 13 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is stepping up scrutiny of Microsoft and has “seeked answers from the company’s rivals about the tech giant’s licensing and other business practices,” Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
The agency has sent civil investigation requests in recent weeks to Microsoft’s competitors in the enterprise software and cloud computing markets, according to the report, which cited people familiar with the matter as saying that at least half a dozen companies had received the demands.
The FTC is also seeking information about Microsoft’s combination of artificial intelligence, security and identity software in its offerings, Bloomberg said.
Microsoft and the FTC did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
In 2024, the agency, under then-Chairwoman Lina Khan, opened an investigation into Microsoft over whether it had abused its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data to rival cloud platforms.
Competitors have criticized Microsoft’s practices, saying they keep customers locked into its Azure cloud service.
Google filed a complaint with the European Commission in September 2024, saying that Microsoft was “exploiting its dominant Windows Server operating system to prevent competition.”
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)