Discover the innovative investment research assistant now. According to a report by CCTV News on November 30th, citing informed sources, the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has initiated an antitrust investigation into Microsoft Corporation, involving aspects such as Microsoft, cloud computing services, and software licensing. As of now, Microsoft has not responded. Image source: CCTV News.
After conducting informal interviews with Microsoft’s competitors and business partners for over a year, the antitrust enforcement agency has formulated a detailed demand, requiring Microsoft to disclose information related to cloud computing and other areas under investigation. An informed source stated that FTC Chair Lina Khan signed this hundreds-page requirement and sent it to Microsoft. Currently, the FTC’s focus is on Microsoft’s practice of bundling its office software, security software, and cloud computing products for sale. For instance, Microsoft’s authentication solution application should assist users in verifying and logging into their cloud software, but Microsoft’s licensing terms and the bundling of the authentication application with cloud services have led to dissatisfaction among competitors providing authentication and network security services. They have expressed to the FTC that this practice makes it difficult for them to compete with Microsoft. Additionally, video conferencing software companies like SoftView and Salesforce’s team collaboration and communication software Slack have indicated that Microsoft’s bundling of its video conferencing software with office software is anti-competitive. Image source: CCTV News. Besides the current antitrust investigation, Microsoft has faced numerous troubles this year, which have also garnered global attention. In January, The New York Times filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that Microsoft infringed on its copyright. The New York Times claimed in the lawsuit that Microsoft used its content without authorization to train artificial intelligence chatbots. The lawsuit stated that these AI products were trained on millions of New York Times articles and used this material to provide answers to users, thereby diverting web traffic that would have otherwise gone to The New York Times, affecting the company’s advertising, licensing, and subscription revenues, and directly competing with The New York Times. The lawsuit also claimed that these AI products inserted false information in some responses and falsely attributed it to The New York Times, damaging its reputation. This phenomenon is known as the so-called AI ‘hallucination’ problem. In July, issues with Microsoft’s ‘Windows’ system updates led to widespread paralysis in global aviation, banking, and media institutions.Airports, banks, media, hospitals, transportation services, and retail payment systems in the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Japan, and Belgium have all been affected. The incident has caused varying degrees of economic loss across industries worldwide. This event was primarily triggered by an erroneous security software program update for Microsoft’s ‘Windows’ system.
The software, named ‘Falcon’, is a product of the software development company ‘Zhongji’. Image source: CCTV News According to ‘Zhongji’, a flawed update to the ‘Falcon’ software led to ‘Windows’ system crashes and the appearance of blue screens. A blue screen indicates the need for a computer restart, but in this case, restarting only leads to the reoccurrence of the blue screen, creating an endless loop. Microsoft stated that approximately 8.5 million ‘Windows’ devices were impacted. CNN reported that professionals estimate the economic loss from this incident could exceed 1 billion USD. As of the close on November 29th, local time, Microsoft’s stock price was $423.46, with a 0.11% increase, and a market value of $3.1 trillion. In addition to Microsoft, Google also faced litigation. According to CCTV News on November 29th, the Canadian Competition Bureau released a statement on November 28th, stating that they are taking legal action against Google for anti-competitive practices in Canada’s online advertising technology services. Image source: CCTV News The statement claimed that the investigation found Google, as the largest provider of online advertising technology in Canada, abused its market dominance by implementing anti-competitive practices, preventing competition, suppressing innovation, increasing advertising costs, and reducing the revenue of publishers. The Canadian Competition Bureau stated that they have applied to the Competition Tribunal, demanding Google to sell two advertising technology tools, pay fines, and prohibit Google from continuing anti-competitive practices. The final decision on the matter rests with the Competition Tribunal. Furthermore, according to CCTV Finance, a U.S. district court had previously ruled that Google illegally monopolized the online search market, and the judiciary then turned its attention to Google’s advertising business. The judiciary believes that Google’s advertising business monetization model harms the interests of news publishers. The U.S. Department of Justice and several states aim to prove that Google violated U.S. antitrust laws in its digital advertising business. Analysts point out that if the Department of Justice and the states prevail, Google may face the need to be broken up. Google’s advertising business is its core revenue source. In response, Google stated that its advertising technology supports the development of small businesses and news publishers, and if broken up, it would ‘slow innovation, increase advertising costs, and make it more difficult for small businesses to develop’.Are you interested in stock trading? The first step is to open an account. Choose Dongfang Fortune Securities to manage both market trends and transactions with just one app. This comprehensive solution streamlines your trading experience, allowing you to stay informed and make decisions on the go. (Source: Daily Economic News)
