Microsoft is working to preemptively address an EU antitrust complaint by Slack regarding its Microsoft Teams dominance.
Slack first filed an antitrust complaint with the EU in mid-2020, alleging that Teams’ rise to dominance in the industry is the result of Microsoft unfairly bundling it with Office, and using the popular productivity suite to boost Teams.
“We’re confident that we win on the merits of our product, but we can’t ignore illegal behavior that deprives customers of access to the tools and solutions they want,” Jonathan Prince, Vice President of Communications and Policy at Slack, said at the time. “Slack threatens Microsoft’s hold on business email, the cornerstone of Office, which means Slack threatens Microsoft’s lock on enterprise software.”
According to Reuters, Microsoft is looking to settle the complaint with the EU in an effort to prevent a full-blown antitrust investigation. It’s unclear if the move will be successful, but Microsoft is clearly continuing efforts to position itself as the more agreeable Big Tech company, willing to work with regulators rather than fight them.