The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly set to open a probe into Microsoft's allegedly anticompetitive practices in its efforts to further reinforce its dominance in cloud services.

The Financial Times said that the probe is based on allegations that Microsoft had in place restrictive licensing agreements intended to discourage the transfer of data to competitors' platforms. According to insider sources, the FTC is also going over allegations that Microsoft charged higher subscription costs for clients who intended to switch providers; engineered incompatibilities with the competitor service; and charged high termination fees.

In 2023, the FTC requested that the public comment on business practices by large cloud service providers. Rigid software licenses, obligatory spending thresholds, and excessive data transfer charges were the reasons authors most often cited as being major competitive barriers.

Yet, it remains unclear how broad the scope of the FTC inquiry will be because Chair Lina Khan's stewardship may be affected in the event of the presidency reverting to Donald Trump, who is generally regarded as sympathetic to deregulation.