Slack Files EU Antitrust Complaint Against Microsoft

   By Sam Schechner 
 

Microsoft Corp. is facing an antitrust complaint in the European Union over its push into workplace-collaboration software, joining a series of big tech firms under scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic for allegedly abusing their dominance, and echoing the Windows-maker's competition battles more than a decade ago.

Slack Technologies Inc., maker of the eponymous workplace platform, on Wednesday filed a complaint before the European Commission, the EU's top competition regulator, accusing Microsoft of violating EU competition law by tying its Teams collaboration software to its widely used Microsoft Office productivity-software suite.

Slack alleges that Microsoft forces Office users to install the Teams software, blocks its removal, and makes certain types of interoperability with rivals impossible. The company is asking the EU to force Microsoft to sell Teams as a standalone product, rather than bundling it with Office.

Wednesday's complaint is the latest of several in the EU and U.S. accusing large technology companies of abusing their alleged dominance.

Write to Sam Schechner at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 22, 2020 09:16 ET (13:16 GMT)

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