From AI, software to cloud all in one? Microsoft is reported to be facing a wide-ranging antitrust investigation by the FTC

After Google was forced to sell Chrome following its defeat in an antitrust case, Microsoft has come under scrutiny from U.S. regulators. On November 27, Eastern Time, Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft, covering various aspects including cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (AI) products. This action follows more than a year of informal discussions with Microsoft's competitors and business partners, during which law enforcement officials have developed detailed requests spanning hundreds of pages, compelling Microsoft to provide relevant information, which has already been sent to the company. According to insiders, FTC antitrust lawyers are scheduled to meet with Microsoft's competitors next week to gather more relevant information. A key focus of the investigation is Microsoft's bundling of its popular office productivity and security software with cloud products. Part of the investigation centers on Microsoft's security software Microsoft Entra ID, formerly known as Azure Active Directory, which helps users authenticate when logging into cloud-based software. Both Microsoft and the FTC declined to comment on the news. If the reports are true, this would mark the first time in over twenty years that the U.S. government has reviewed Microsoft's business practices. In 1999, a U.S. federal court ruled that Microsoft illegally leveraged its market dominance with the Windows operating system to exclude competing browsers, including Netscape Navigator. A settlement agreement in 2001 forced Microsoft to stop disadvantaging competitors in the personal computer business. In June 2000, the court issued a formal ruling requiring Microsoft to cease its bundling practices, and more drastically, it planned to split Microsoft into two: one part to operate the operating system business and the other to manage other software businesses. Microsoft appealed after its initial defeat and ultimately reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, avoiding the fate of being split, but still paid a hefty settlement fee and opened part of its source code. Coincidentally, before the news of Microsoft's extensive antitrust investigation broke, Google lost in August this year in the largest antitrust case in the U.S. tech industry since Microsoft's breakup case at the beginning of this century. Federal court judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google's search business violated U.S. antitrust laws. Subsequently, Wall Street Journal noted that the ruling against Google bears striking similarities to Microsoft's antitrust case. Just as Microsoft was found guilty of abusing its market dominance with the Windows operating system, Google also faces legal sanctions. Judge Mehta referenced the Microsoft case from over twenty years ago. Sam Weinstein, a law professor at Cardozo Law School and former antitrust lawyer for the Department of Justice, pointed out, "The (U.S.) government has been explicitly and implicitly indicating that they are building the legal foundation of this case based on the Microsoft case." Earlier this month, media reports stated that after losing the lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking Judge Mehta to compel Google to sell its Chrome browser, as well as to propose data licensing requirements and remedies related to artificial intelligence (AI) and the Android smartphone operating system, in order to break Google's monopoly