Microsoft has been under intense scrutiny for their acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, it looks like things may get worst for Microsoft in the near future.
According to a Bloomberg report, the European Union"s antitrust watchdog has opened up an informal probe into Microsoft Azure over anti-competitive behavior. As a part of the probe, the regulatory body has reached out to various customers and competitors over Microsoft"s access into sensitive business related information. The regulator believes that Microsoft may be abusing its access to confidential information to leverage and compete with other cloud-service providers.
The commission has received several complaints regarding Microsoft, including in relation to its product Azure, which we are assessing based on our standard procedures.
The regulator has given firms until May 16 to respond and submit non-confidential versions of their evidence by the end of this month. Bloomberg notes that is a standard process and is an indication of an impending formal antitrust investigation.
Once received, the regulator will review the data and evidence to decide if it wants to launch a formal investigation into the matter. If an investigation is opened, it will go through the legal proceedings and may result in fines.
This is not the first time Microsoft has been dragged into legal battle over its cloud business. Earlier this year, the Redmond giant had to settle a lawsuit with OVHcloud, Aruba SpA and the Danish Cloud Community over complaints about unfair licensing practices. Not only that, Microsoft"s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was recently halted by the UK regulator for the fear of having too much influence on the cloud gaming industry.