The Federal Trade Commission has launched a broad antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s business empire – a late-game shot at Big Tech from the Democratic-led agency in the final weeks of President Joe Biden’s administration.
The FTC sent a demand for documents to Microsoft on Wednesday that asks for detailed information on several of the company’s businesses. Those of interest include its cloud computing services, artificial intelligence tools and cybersecurity software, according to a person familiar with the investigation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the agency’s private plans.
The probe comes after a year of preparation from the FTC and amid a flurry of action from the Biden administration as it seeks to cement its impact before stepping aside for president-elect Donald Trump.
Under Biden appointee Lina Khan, the FTC has taken an aggressive run at Big Tech, suing to try to stop large mergers and investigating a string of companies for alleged antitrust infractions.
Biden’s Justice Department has also brought lawsuits against Big Tech, and proposed earlier this month that a federal judge should force Google to sell off its Chrome browser after he ruled in August that Google held an illegal monopoly in internet search.
Spokespeople for Microsoft and the FTC declined to comment. Bloomberg News earlier reported that the agency had sent a request for information to Microsoft.
Trump has not made clear what his plans for the FTC and the Justice Department’s investigations and lawsuits regarding Big Tech will be. Tech analysts and executives widely expect him to fire Khan, who is unpopular with tech leaders and investors.
Elon Musk posted on X before the election that Khan would “be fired soon.” Trump has not named his pick for FTC chair.
Trump has lashed out major tech companies for years, accusing companies such as Meta and Google of censoring conservative voices and trying to work against him.
Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to head the Federal Communications Commission, said last week he wants to “smash the censorship cartel,” referring to large social media platforms, which kicked Trump off their platforms in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol but later reinstated his accounts.
At the same time, Trump is expected to institute a lighter touch in some areas of tech regulation, including cryptocurrency, acquisitions and restrictions on AI.
The Biden administration’s investigation into Microsoft comes nearly 25 years after the Justice Department sued the company in the late 1990s. Though that did not lead to a breakup of the company, tech historians and analysts say it reined in Microsoft enough that it allowed new companies such as Google to get ahead in developing the potential of the internet.
Microsoft survived and has pushed its way back into the Big Tech pantheon. It is currently the world’s third-most-valuable company after Apple and AI chipmaker Nvidia.
Microsoft’s cloud business is the second largest in the world after that of Amazon and shapes the daily experience of billions of people through its PC operating systems and office software. The Windows maker’s multibillion-dollar partnership with ChatGPT maker OpenAI also gives it a key position in the race to build and sell the best AI tools.
Microsoft is not the FTC’s only new target as the Biden administration prepares to cede power. The agency is also investigating ride-hailing company Uber over whether its Uber One subscription product violated consumer protection laws, said a person familiar with the probe, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private information.
Customers have complained that the product is difficult to cancel, the person said. A spokesperson for Uber disputed that. “Uber One members can easily cancel their membership in the app – in fact, the majority of those cancellations take 20 seconds or less,” the Uber spokesperson said.
(c) Washington Post