With Microsoft, the German Federal Cartel Office is targeting the next American technology giant. According to a statement on Tuesday, the authority is investigating whether the software group has “excellent cross-market interest for competition”.
With this finding, the cartel agency could subject Microsoft to stricter supervision. In 2021, the German cartel agency will have more powers over companies with cross-market influence and can ban them from practices it believes endanger competition.
A spokesperson for Microsoft said they would “work constructively with the Federal Cartel Office and help them better understand our role in digital markets.”
Where’s the problem?
Andreas Mundt, president of the cartel bureau, is quoted in the press release as saying:
More recently, we have seen the growing importance of the cloud services Azure and OneDrive, which are often linked to other Microsoft applications, as well as the resounding success of Teams, software for video conferencing and collaboration.
In addition, Microsoft is active in other areas such as gaming via the Xbox, career networking with the LinkedIn service or internet searches with the Bing search engine and has recently attracted attention with the integration of AI applications.”
In view of this, there are good reasons to consider whether Microsoft is of great cross-market importance. Such a determination would enable the authority to “croach and prohibit any anti-competitive behavior at an early stage”.
American technology companies in the picture
Google parent Alphabet was classified as such a company in January 2022, followed by Facebook group Meta in May and Amazon in July. The world’s largest online retailer does not want to accept this – the complaint is with the German Federal Court. The test for Apple is still “advanced”.
(dsc/sda/awp/dpa)
Soource :Watson
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
