{"id":292284,"date":"2024-11-28T13:50:55","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T12:50:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/es\/?p=344752"},"modified":"2025-07-01T15:41:25","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T22:41:25","slug":"the-ftc-against-microsoft-cloud-ai-and-cybersecurity-in-the-spotlight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/the-ftc-against-microsoft-cloud-ai-and-cybersecurity-in-the-spotlight\/","title":{"rendered":"The FTC against Microsoft: cloud, AI, and cybersecurity in the spotlight"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Microsoft has been battling the <strong>Federal Trade Commission<\/strong> of the United States for about two years. At the time, the fight was over the acquisition of the video game giant Activision \/ Blizzard \/ King. Now the investigation is focused on its other business areas.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-starred-link\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-starred-link__img\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2024\/09\/newsletter.png?GoogleAccessId=wp-stateless%40kubertonic.iam.gserviceaccount.com&Expires=1778244851&Signature=FOpMt7Jst16QuaLJDVLmv1zTfhVbTtPz0fxUoelGj1DLETd3E%2BfS989VonKq%2FR76onv%2BLNHL6so7Dn1fFqQigsDpQ5KhV98abNNfyXMqdw2AU0w0jBERp9KNZJNVtqfQngvUaLESzldsMoe0pcfa3aR982KK61sQK7BbOjwcVHqM%2Fo1utiZaj93ydzOOviaq0be5ofJrldKvO4MQ11oyg5%2FTG2nIMYoNS37F9VKZinGpBoyOvIkRTx3%2BCXMQcZDcwQmA6Zzo49OB6LZvoCEm9mcbOLOB47gn2NnhDN%2Fzqvkb9O5Bp9Tw0MSJFWGgr0oPeADeYzMavnnBoORO3X4VIQ%3D%3D\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-starred-link__col-title\">\r\n        <p class=\"sc-card-starred-link__title\">Subscribe to the Softonic newsletter and get the latest in tech, gaming, entertainment and deals right in your inbox.<\/p>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__button\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\">Subscribe (it's FREE) \u25ba<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-starred-link__link\" href=\"https:\/\/en.softonic.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer sponsored\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft<\/strong>, examining its cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation follows more than a year of informal interviews with competitors and business partners, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2024-11-27\/us-antitrust-watchdog-launches-broad-microsoft-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"Bloomberg\">Bloomberg<\/a> has reported. The FTC&#8217;s antitrust lawyers have sent Microsoft a detailed information request, spanning hundreds of pages, after receiving approval from FTC Chair Lina Khan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The FTC is launching a wide-ranging antitrust investigation into Microsoft and its practices. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qiw0EAVatv\">https:\/\/t.co\/Qiw0EAVatv<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0CCT8EDz5V\">pic.twitter.com\/0CCT8EDz5V<\/a><\/p>&mdash; CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cnnbrk\/status\/1861911243948212327?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 27, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Irregular practices and business from their dominant market position<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The investigation focuses on Microsoft&#8217;s bundling of productivity and security office software with its cloud services, a practice that critics say harms competitors in the authentication and cybersecurity markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The FTC is particularly examining Microsoft Entra ID, its user authentication service<\/strong>, amid complaints that the licensing conditions and integration with its cloud offerings hinder rival companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"FTC reportedly launches antitrust investigation into Microsoft\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QDQI1-cxvsw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The role of Microsoft as a major government contractor and <strong>the recent cybersecurity incidents related to its products have added urgency to the investigation.<\/strong> The company provides services worth billions of dollars to U.S. agencies, including the Department of Defense, making its practices crucial for national security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In November 2023, the FTC <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ftc.gov\/policy\/advocacy-research\/tech-at-ftc\/2023\/11\/cloud-computing-rfi-what-we-heard-learned\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">expressed its concern<\/a> about the concentrated nature of the cloud market, warning that disruptions or performance issues could spread throughout the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The authority then gathered opinions from civil society, sector stakeholders, and academia to prepare its report. According to the feedback received, <strong>most of the concerns were related to competition and licensing practices.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"sc-card-program\">\r\n  <div class=\"sc-card-program__body\">\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row clearfix\">\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-logo\">\r\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__img\" alt=\"Microsoft 365\" src=\"https:\/\/images.sftcdn.net\/images\/t_app-icon-s\/p\/e7c83350-96d9-11e6-af79-00163ed833e7\/1861570400\/microsoft-365-download-microsoft.png\" width=\"100px\" height=\"100px\">\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-title\">\r\n        <span class=\"sc-card-program__title\">Microsoft 365<\/span>\r\n        <a class=\"sc-card-program__button sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/microsoft-365.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">DOWNLOAD<\/a>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n      <div class=\"sc-card-program__col-rating\">\r\n        <svg class=\"rating-score__content\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" version=\"1.1\" x=\"0\" y=\"0\" viewbox=\"0 0 50 50\" enable-background=\"new 0 0 50 50\" xml:space=\"preserve\"><path class=\"rating-score__background rating-score--good\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><path class=\"rating-score__value rating-score__value--0\" fill=\"none\" stroke-width=\"6\" stroke-dashoffset=\"0\" stroke-miterlimit=\"10\" d=\"M40 40c8.3-8.3 8.3-21.7 0-30s-21.7-8.3-30 0 -8.3 21.7 0 30\"><\/path><text class=\"rating-score__number\" content=\"\" text-anchor=\"middle\" transform=\"matrix(1 0 0 1 25 31.0837)\" data-auto=\"app-user-score\"><\/text><\/svg>\r\n      <\/div>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <span class=\"sc-card-program__description\"><\/span>\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <div class=\"sc-card-program__row\">\r\n      <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sc-card-program__bigpic\" src=\"\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\">\r\n    <\/div>\r\n    <a class=\"sc-card-program__link track-link sc-card-program-internal\" href=\"https:\/\/microsoft-365.en.softonic.com\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><\/a>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Also in the United Kingdom, Microsoft is facing a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/cma-cases\/cloud-services-market-investigation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"part of the Competition and Markets Authority\">similar antitrust investigation<\/a> by the Competition and Markets Authority. The investigation is a result of the complaint filed by AWS with the CMA against Microsoft for unfair business practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The FTC&#8217;s investigation could have far-reaching implications for the tech giant&#8217;s market practices and for the broader cloud and cybersecurity sectors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft has been battling the United States Federal Trade Commission for about two years. Initially, the fight was over the acquisition of the video game giant Activision \/ Blizzard \/ King. Now the investigation is focused on its other business areas. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has launched an antitrust investigation into Microsoft, examining its cloud computing, software licensing, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence businesses. The investigation follows more than a year of informal interviews with competitors and business partners, Bloomberg has reported. The FTC&#8217;s antitrust lawyers [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9265,"featured_media":292286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[1015],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-292284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292284"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310644,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292284\/revisions\/310644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292286"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292284"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=292284"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=292284"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=292284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}