antitrust

Japan’s competition watchdog has opened a formal probe of Microsoft’s cloud business, focusing on whether commercial and technical conditions tied to Microsoft 365, Windows Server and other key software steer customers toward Azure and disadvantage rival cloud platforms — and the agency has...

Microsoft’s expanding cloud and AI empire has won it market share and investor applause — and now Japan’s competition watchdog has put that empire under the microscope, opening a fresh regulatory front that complicates the company’s growth story even as the business posts blockbuster results...

Japan’s antitrust authority executed an on‑site inspection of Microsoft Japan on February 25, 2026, as investigators probe whether the software giant used its dominance in Windows and Microsoft 365 to steer customers toward Azure by imposing higher licensing fees and restrictive terms on rival...

Japan’s competition watchdog carried out an on‑site inspection of Microsoft’s Tokyo offices on February 25, 2026, opening a formal probe into whether the software giant used licensing, pricing, or sales practices tied to Microsoft Azure to discourage—or effectively penalize—Japanese businesses...

Microsoft Japan was visited by officials from the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) on February 25, 2026, as part of a formal probe into whether the company’s local unit used its dominance in key software to steer customers toward Microsoft Azure and away from rival cloud platforms. The JFTC’s...

Japan’s competition enforcers have executed an on-site inspection of Microsoft’s Japanese offices after local media and international reporting said the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) is investigating whether Microsoft improperly limited customers’ ability to run Microsoft software on rival...

Google’s proposed purchase of cloud-security vendor Wiz has triggered a fresh wave of industry pushback in Europe, with the Cloud Infrastructure Service Providers in Europe (CISPE) warning regulators that the deal could produce a “multiplier effect” that locks customers into a single...

Google’s planned acquisition of cloud‑security specialist Wiz has set off a fresh round of European regulatory and industry pushback, with cloud trade body CISPE warning Brussels that the takeover could create a “multiplier effect” that locks customers into bundled cloud suites and gives Google...

Italy’s competition authority has ordered Meta to pause parts of its new WhatsApp Business Solution rules that would have barred rival AI chatbots from operating on the messaging platform, an interim decision that crystallizes a wider regulatory struggle over platform control, AI distribution...

Italy’s competition authority has ordered Meta to suspend the WhatsApp Business Solution Terms that would have barred rival, general‑purpose AI chatbots from the messaging platform, legally pausing the platform’s planned January 15, 2026 enforcement and buying time for regulators to decide...

Italy’s competition authority has ordered Meta to immediately suspend new WhatsApp Business terms that would effectively bar rival AI chatbots from using the platform, escalating a regulatory showdown that now includes both national and European antitrust authorities and could reshape how...

Italy’s competition authority has ordered Meta to suspend WhatsApp’s new Business Solution Terms that would have excluded rival generative AI chatbots from operating on the platform, imposing interim measures while it conducts a full antitrust investigation into whether WhatsApp’s integration...

Meta’s plan to block rival generative AI chatbots from the WhatsApp Business interface in Italy has been temporarily halted by the country’s competition authority, which ordered a suspension of Meta’s October policy change while it conducts a full antitrust probe. Background WhatsApp’s parent...

Italy’s competition watchdog has ordered Meta to freeze the WhatsApp policy that would exclude rival AI chatbots in Italy, issuing an interim suspension while it completes a full antitrust probe into whether the messaging giant abused its dominant position by reserving WhatsApp as a distribution...

Meta’s move to exclude rival generative AI chatbots from WhatsApp has been paused in Italy as the country’s competition watchdog steps in, raising the stakes in a cross‑border clash between platform control and open AI competition. Background Since early 2025, WhatsApp has evolved from a pure...

Microsoft returned to a London antitrust tribunal this week to argue that a proposed collective action seeking up to £2.1 billion over Windows Server licensing should be blocked at the gate because the claimants — led by competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi — have not identified a viable legal...

Microsoft’s Copilot will stop responding inside WhatsApp on January 15, 2026, after WhatsApp’s owner revised its Business API terms to explicitly bar third‑party, general‑purpose large‑language‑model (LLM) chatbots from operating as primary services through the platform. Background WhatsApp’s...

Microsoft is back in the dock over cloud licensing, and this time the dispute sits at the intersection of antitrust law, enterprise procurement strategy, and the future shape of the cloud market itself — a dispute that could change how UK organisations buy and run Windows Server workloads...

Microsoft will tell judges at the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) that a proposed mass claim accusing it of anti‑competitive cloud licensing practices should be struck out because the plaintiffs’ methodology for proving common liability and quantifying loss is flawed, a move that puts the...

A new national survey shows AI chatbots have moved from novelty to routine in many U.S. teenagers’ lives: roughly two-thirds of teens report using chatbots and nearly three in ten say they use them every day. The finding arrives amid legal, regulatory, and industry shifts that make this moment...