Today, the Financial Times reports the Federal Trade Commission is readying an inquiry into Microsoft’s cloud computing business, “examining allegations that Microsoft is abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data from its Azure cloud service to competitors’ platforms.”

The following statement can be attributed to George Rakis, Executive Director for NextGen Competition (nextgencomp.tech):

We applaud reports that the FTC plans to examine the harm caused by Microsoft’s blatant disregard for fair business practices. While Microsoft bought its way out of trouble in Europe over its anticompetitive cloud computing practices, the FTC should be proud to fill that void stateside on behalf of consumers who have been unjustly targeted by price increases, exit fees, and difficulty transferring their information to other platforms. While Microsoft is busy feuding with Google over who’s a worse antitrust offender – it’s the consumers that suffer. We commend FTC Chair Lina Khan for continuing to hold Big Tech accountable and hope this aggressive antitrust approach will continue in the next administration.

About NextGen Competition

Our mission is to support a robust and competitive technology ecosystem by opposing anti-competitive business practices and promoting greater industry accountability. Specifically, we oppose consolidation in the industry that undermines worker protections and employer accountability, threatens data privacy and security, encourages market concentration, and limits consumer choice. NextGen Competition intends to work with a broad coalition of unions and public interest partners as it seeks to oppose anti-competitive business practices.