European Union antitrust regulators are asking Microsoft’s Rivals are mulling what kind of customer data the US tech giant is required to provide as part of its Azure cloud contracts, six months after a trade group complained about its cloud computing practices.
Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers in Europe (CISPE), whose members include Amazonalleged last November that Microsoft’s new contract terms, implemented on October 1, combined with other practices, were harming the European cloud computing ecosystem.
In a questionnaire sent to cloud providers seen by Reuters, the European Commission asked the recipients for a list of contractual clauses for these companies to report information about their European customers to Microsoft.
“The Commission has received a number of complaints about Microsoft, including in relation to its product Bluewhich we are evaluating based on our standard procedures,” said a spokesman for the EU executive.
The EU competition promoter wanted to know about the frequency of reporting, the period for which data was requested, the format of reporting, and whether the information is sent directly to Microsoft or to auditors.
The recipients, who were given until this week to respond, were asked whether there were contractual, real, or threatened consequences for not complying with these clauses.
The EU watchdog asked whether Microsoft would have used the information to go directly to the recipients’ customers.
Microsoft, which has been hit with more than 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion or roughly Rs 147.17 crore) in EU fines for various antitrust violations over the past decade, declined to comment.
It has made an offer to CISPE to resolve the issue and talks are underway, according to a person familiar with the matter.
© Thomson Reuters 2023