Google has withdrawn its anti-monopoly lawsuits against Microsoft business practices that were submitted to the EU last year. Google filed a complaint with the European Commission last year alleging that Microsoft had restricted the use of its Azure cloud platform through anti-competitive behaviour.
In an updated statement, Georgia Abeltino, European Director of Government Affairs and Public Policy, Google Clouds, stated: “We initiated antimonopoly proceedings with the European Commission to get clients and partners to speak out on anticompetitive issues in cloud service licences. In the light of the recent announcement by the European Commission that it would conduct an independent assessment of practice affecting the cloud computing field, we decided to withdraw the complaint. We stand by the original statement and will continue to work with policymakers, customers and regulators in the EU, the UK and elsewhere to advocate for the development and freedom of choice of cloud computing markets.” It is understood that the survey will be completed within one year, after which the regulator will decide whether Microsoft should be considered a “gatekeeper” enterprise under the Digital Markets Act. If determined, Microsoft would face multiple compliance requirements. Without exception, Microsoft has recently succeeded in getting rid of the antimonopoly proceedings brought by the French search engine Qwant, who dismissed the case on the grounds of “insufficiency of evidence”, but Qwant indicated that it would appeal to the courts and other regulatory bodies. This development coincided with the launching of an antimonopoly investigation into Microsoft by the European Commission of Regulatory Agencies. The survey will focus on the business behaviour of Microsoft in the public cloud market, which is the central focus of Google ‘ s previous complaints. The Windows Server version, sold by Microsoft, is dedicated to the optimization of the public cloud environment and is used by many enterprises to operate Microsoft applications such as SQL Server. In 2019, Microsoft implemented a major service provision update on Windows Server, which operates on a rival cloud platform.
Google noted in its complaint that the 2019 licence change was anticompetitive in nature: The new provisions have resulted in the operation of Windows Server on Google Cloud platform at a higher cost than the Microsoft home-based Azure platform. According to Google citation studies, the revised provisions overspend EU enterprises by over Euro10 billion. Google also warned EU regulators about other issues, including Microsoft restricting access to Windows Server patches and creating interoperability barriers for clients of competitive cloud platforms. The survey launched last week by EU officials will focus on determining whether Azure is a “core platform service” under the Digital Market Act. The Antimonopoly Act came into force in 2022 and products identified as core platform services are subject to stricter regulatory requirements. Its provisions clearly state that core platform services must provide an easy data-cross-platform migration programme and, if the requirement applies to Azure, Microsoft may need to technically adapt its data export tools. Most of the provisions of the Digital Markets Act target consumer-grade products such as mobile operating systems, which means that they may not have a direct impact on Azure.
The Microsoft survey was one of three public cloud market surveys announced by the EU last week. Regulators will also assess whether Amazon cloud services belong to the core platform, while the European Commission will examine the need to amend the Digital Market Act to better address antimonopoly issues in cloud computing markets.