Microsoft isn’t happy about an antitrust investigation reportedly kicked off by the Federal Trade Commission recently, but not for the reason you might think: Redmond’s mad that it found out about the probe by reading the news.
Rima Alaily, Microsoft’s corporate VP and deputy general counsel for the competition and market regulation group, sent a letter to the FTC’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) yesterday urging IG Andrew Katsaros to take a look inside his house to see whether the information first reported by Bloomberg last week was leaked to the press.
“The Bloomberg story appears to be consistent with an unfortunate trend over the last two years of the FTC strategically leaking non-public information,” Alaily wrote. “I ask you to investigate whether FTC management improperly leaked this confidential information to the press in violation of the agency’s ethics rules and rules of practice.”
The original story, as was reported by The Register, suggested that the FTC kicked off a new antitrust investigation into Microsoft’s cloud, AI and cybersecurity offerings. The FTC has yet to release an official statement on the matter, nor has the Commission sent any formal paperwork to Microsoft, nor has it even acknowledged the investigation, per Alaily’s letter.
“Almost a week after telling the press about an information demand supposedly issued to Microsoft, we still cannot obtain a copy of this document from the FTC,” Alaily said. “To date, Microsoft has not received any formal legal process, such as a Civil Investigative Demand, from the FTC. And when we called to inquire about the validity of the Bloomberg story, staff would not confirm the existence of the information request.”
Without knowing what the contents of the antitrust investigation pertain to specifically – even Microsoft apparently doesn’t have a clue – there’s no way to tell what’s really at question in the investigation. There are clues, though.
The tech giant was just sued in the UK for allegedly overcharging customers using Microsoft products on non-Azure clouds – an issue that’s been raised in several other legal cases of late. The Windows maker has also been under scrutiny in the EU over its close relationship with OpenAI, and the company has also been called a national security threat over its poor cybersecurity practices and deep integration with US government systems and associated breaches by Chinese and Russian cybersnoops.
In short, there’s plenty to fuel a new investigation but this is about Microsoft claiming the FTC is undermining its own standards and ethics rules by selectively sharing information with the press. The company is targeting Lina Khan for being behind that undermining.
“[The OIG] recently observed in [a] report to Chair Khan on the FTC’s ‘Top Management and Performance Challenges,’ the volume of unauthorized disclosures of non-public information has been ‘steadily increasing’ during Chair Khan’s watch,” Alaily said.
Not that Microsoft will likely have to worry for much longer – Khan could face dismissal once President-elect Donald Trump takes office, and investigations like this one into Microsoft might be reconsidered as part of a potential shift away from the FTC’s current aggressive antitrust stance.
When reached for a comment, the FTC directed us to the OIG’s office, which hasn’t responded to our questions. Microsoft hasn’t responded to questions, either. ®
