In a significant development for Europe's tech landscape, France's competition watchdog has dismissed a major antitrust complaint filed by local search engine company Qwant against software giant Microsoft. The Autorité de la Concurrence found insufficient evidence to support Qwant's claims of unfair market practices.
The Core Allegations and Regulatory Response
The French search engine Qwant had accused Microsoft of unfairly leveraging its market power to limit how Qwant appeared in search results and search advertising. According to Qwant, these restrictions made it increasingly difficult for the French company to develop its own search engine and artificial intelligence tools while Microsoft received preferential treatment in search ad allocation.
However, the French regulator determined that Qwant failed to provide convincing evidence to support these serious allegations. The case was subsequently dismissed, with the regulator also refusing to impose any temporary penalties on Microsoft that Qwant had requested during the proceedings.
Microsoft's Position and Industry Impact
Microsoft welcomed the French regulator's decision, with a company spokesperson telling Reuters: "We agree with the decision and remain committed to providing high-quality search services and fostering innovation for consumers and partners in France and across Europe."
This case highlights Microsoft's continued role as a major provider of search results to smaller European search engines, including Ecosia, DuckDuckGo, Lilo, and Qwant itself. Qwant has long relied on Microsoft's Bing to provide search and news results, creating a complex relationship between the two companies.
Broader Context of Microsoft's European Regulatory Challenges
The Qwant complaint dismissal comes amid Microsoft's ongoing efforts to navigate European Union antitrust regulations. Just last September, Microsoft avoided a major EU fine by agreeing to separate its Teams app from Office software and offer lower-priced options.
The European Commission accepted these commitments, ending a long antitrust investigation that began after complaints from rival companies. The case originated with a 2020 complaint from Slack, owned by Salesforce, which alleged Microsoft unfairly bundled Teams with Office 365 and Microsoft 365. A subsequent 2023 complaint from German company Alfaview increased regulatory pressure.
Under the settlement agreement, Microsoft offered versions of Office 365 and Microsoft 365 without Teams at prices 1 to 8 euros lower and agreed to increase the price difference between bundled and unbundled versions by 50% for some business plans. The company also committed to improving interoperability with competing services and allowing users to export Teams chats to rival platforms.
Most of these commitments were set to last 7 years, while data portability and interoperability requirements would remain for 10 years. These changes were applied globally, not just within Europe. EU executive VP Teresa Ribera noted the decision would foster more competition and help businesses choose their preferred tools.
This cooperative approach marked a shift for Microsoft, which had previously faced 2.2 billion euros in EU fines for similar issues. By settling, Microsoft avoided potential penalties that could have reached up to 10% of its global annual revenue.
Despite the French regulator's dismissal, Qwant indicated last month that it expected this outcome and plans to challenge the decision in court or take the matter to other authorities, suggesting this battle may be far from over.
