Legal

EU probes Microsoft’s Teams amid competition concerns

Bloc says tech giant may have breached competition rules by tying Teams to its corporate packages

Demand for videoconferencing boomed after the coronavirus pandemic that consigned hundreds of millions of workers to their homes, with platform’s like Zoom becoming essential in corporate life. Picture: Getty

The European Union has launched a probe into Microsoft’s Teams platform, citing competition concerns.

The European Commission said Thursday it opened the formal investigation to examine whether Microsoft may have breached EU competition rules by tying or bundling Teams to its Office 365 and Microsoft 365 packages.

The bloc’s antitrust branch said Microsoft’s actions may have given Teams an advantage over rivals by limiting consumer choice and the company may have also limited operability with ...