Microsoft Teams Tying Violates EU Antitrust Law, EC Says In Preliminary Finding

The European Commission this week informed Microsoft of its preliminary finding that the company was violating EU antitrust rules by tying Teams, its workplace communication and collaboration application, to the widely used Office 365 and Microsoft 365 productivity suites.

Forcing customers to access Teams as part of the company's business application suites – if that is the final determination – violates Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ("TFEU") which bars the abuse of a dominant market position, the EC says.

Business software companies like Microsoft and Google are increasingly offering cloud-based software as a service ("SaaS"). While this enables new market players to offer SaaS solutions and allows customers to use various software from different providers, the EC says, "Microsoft has a suite-centric business model combining multiple types of software in a single offering."