The European Union (EU) has accused Microsoft of violating competition laws by bundling its communication tool Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365. This is part of an ongoing antitrust probe that began in July 2023 following a complaint by rival firm Slack.

The EU claims that Microsoft is giving its Teams software an unfair advantage by bundling it with other products and making it hard for rival apps to work well with Microsoft's tools. This could be stopping competitors from improving their products, harming European customers.

If Microsoft is guilty of breaching EU competition laws, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its worldwide annual turnover. The EU may impose fixes if it finds it necessary to restore competitive balance.

Analyst QuickTake: Microsoft has faced additional allegations from the EU this year. The EU launched a competition investigation into Microsoft's significant investment in OpenAI and scrutinized the markets for virtual worlds and GenAI. In February 2024 , the EU announced plans to probe Microsoft's partnership with Mistral AI, focusing on concerns that it limits customers from using competing security software.