Microsoft Japan Antitrust Raid: Microsoft offices raided in Japan, as company suspected of … – The Times of India

Microsoft’s offices in Japan were recently raided by the country’s antitrust regulator. These raids came as part of an investigation into suspected unfair trade practices linked to the software giant’s cloud business. A Nikkei Asia report cited sources familiar with the matter to claim that the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) is examining whether Microsoft Japan improperly restricted customers of its Azure platform from using competing cloud services.The regulator is probing a potential violation of the Antimonopoly Act and is also expected to seek clarification from Microsoft’s parent company in the United States. The report cited sources to claim that Microsoft Japan is suspected of setting conditions that either made it difficult to use its software on non-Azure cloud platforms or resulted in higher fees for customers choosing alternative services.Azure competes with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud in the global cloud market, and the raid is part of the…