Google files antitrust complaint against Microsoft over unfair cloud licensing practices

On September 25, Google filed an antitrust complaint with the European Commission against Microsoft, accusing the tech giant of using unfair licensing agreements to stifle competition in the cloud computing industry.

Google claims that Microsoft's current "lock-in" licensing terms restrict users from freely transferring their workloads from Microsoft’s Azure cloud to competing cloud services. According to Google, there are no technical barriers to moving to other cloud computing platforms.

A Microsoft spokesperson responded to CNBC, stating, “Microsoft settled amicably similar concerns raised by European cloud providers, even after Google hoped they would keep litigating.” The spokesperson also suggested that Google’s attempts to persuade the European Commission may fail, just as they did with European companies.

In 2019, Microsoft updated its licensing policy to limit users' options, imposing significant financial penalties on those seeking to switch to competitors’ cloud services like Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services.

The European Union's antitrust rules, which are part of its broader competition law, aim to curb market dominance and prevent anti-competitive agreements, ensuring free competition and preventing monopolies.

Google's complaint comes at a time when it is also facing legal battles with the European Commission. Earlier in September, Google lost an appeal in an EU antitrust case concerning shopping recommendations in search results. European Consumer Organisation Director General Agustin Reyna stated, “Google harmed millions of European consumers by ensuring that rival comparison-shopping services were virtually invisible.” He added that Google’s practices blocked consumers from accessing potentially cheaper prices and useful product information from competitors.

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