Microsoft accuses Google of funding a shadow campaign against its cloud services

Through a blog post penned by Microsoft's CVP, Deputy General Counsel Rima Alaily, the Redmond-based technology giant is accusing Google of leading a shadow campaign to discredit it in the eyes of the European Commission. 

In September, Google formally filed a complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission for the company's anti-competitive licensing practices. It alleged that Microsoft used legacy licensing practices that lock customers into a single cloud ecosystem. 

Google pointed out that Microsoft has tied Teams, its office communication tool, with its core SaaS (Software as a Service) productivity suites Office 365 and Microsoft 365. In its complaint, Google alleged that Microsoft is doing the same thing with Microsoft Azure by restricting customers in Europe from "moving their current Microsoft workloads to competitor's clouds – despite there being no technical barriers to doing so – or impose what Microsoft admits is a striking 400% price markup."

Microsoft alleges that this is an attempt by Google to distract regulators from the ongoing litigation that the company is currently facing. There are at least 24 antitrust investigations against Google in leading digital markets worldwide. 

Microsoft says that Google wants to tilt the regulatory landscape in its favor rather than compete on merit in the cloud services landscape. Microsoft claims that Google uses the OCC (Open Cloud Coalition) as a front to claim regulatory favor. The group, launched today, has global players such as Civo and Gigas, along with smaller-scale companies such as Pulsant, Clairo and Room 101. 

The spokesperson for the coalition, Nicky Stewart, who served as the former ICT chief in the UK Cabinet, says the group wants lawmakers to scrutinize restrictive agreements and promote an open and flexible market for competitors.