Microsoft Under French Antitrust Investigation Over Bing Practices

Microsoft is under investigation by France’s antitrust authority over concerns that the company may be degrading search results for smaller competitors who pay to use Bing’s technology in their own search engines. The inquiry is examining whether Microsoft has leveraged its position in the search-engine syndication market in a way that undermines competition, according to Bloomberg.

The French competition watchdog has been gathering information from rival search operators about their agreements with Microsoft, per Bloomberg. Investigators are particularly focused on whether Microsoft has intentionally supplied inferior search results to smaller engines that rely on Bing’s extensive search database. If confirmed, these practices could lead to formal charges and substantial fines for the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant.

While Google, owned by Alphabet, dominates the general search engine market, Microsoft holds a significant presence in the syndication space. Many European search engines, including DuckDuckGo, Qwant, and Ecosia, have relied on Bing’s search results to power their services. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has stated that it is fully cooperating with the French regulator’s investigation.

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The French Competition Authority, led by Benoît Cœuré, has recently intensified its scrutiny of major technology firms. Bloomberg reports that the agency fined Google €250 million ($258 million) last year and raised concerns about Big Tech’s involvement in artificial intelligence. The authority is also pursuing a high-profile case against Nvidia Corp. over potential anticompetitive practices in the graphics processing unit (GPU) sector and has warned Apple Inc. about its control over app distribution on the iPhone.

Although Microsoft has largely avoided major antitrust actions in Europe in recent years, it is currently facing an EU investigation into whether its bundling of Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 distorts competition.

Source: Bloomberg