Italy antitrust probes Microsoft over alleged AI bundling and Microsoft 365 price hike practices

Italy probes Microsoft over AI-fueled Microsoft 365 price hike

Regulator says subscribers may have been defaulted onto a pricier Microsoft 365 plan with AI features attached Microsoft is facing fresh regulatory grief in Europe after Italy's competition watchdog opened an investigation into claims Redmond quietly bundled AI into Microsoft 365 and left customers paying more unless they opted out. The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) is investigating Microsoft Ireland Operations and Microsoft Italy over what it describes as a potentially unfair commercial practice surrounding recent Microsoft 365 subscription changes. The case isn't about whether Microsoft can bundle AI into Office. It's about whether customers were told clearly enough that Copilot and Designer had arrived - and that their subscription bill was going up as a result. According to the AGCM, the changes were communicated in a fragmented way that failed to spell out exactly what subscribers were getting for the higher price. The watchdog also alleges that subscribers were automatically shifted onto a more expensive plan, leaving them to opt out if they didn't want to pay extra. "In the Authority's view, this conduct may be contrary to consumer rules, since Microsoft appears to have failed to provide consumers with sufficient information to assess the changes made to the service offered and, as a consequence, make an informed decision as to whether or not to renew their subscription," AGCM said. "The way in which the information was communicated may also constitute an aggressive practice, as it appears to have unduly restricted consumers' freedom of choice" In a statement to The Register, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company "is committed to complying with Italian consumer law and will cooperate with the Italian Competition Authority in its preliminary investigation." The Italian probe widens the debate over Microsoft's AI push. Competition watchdogs have already taken an interest in how the company bundles software and services together, and now consumer regulators are asking whether customers were given a fair shake before AI arrived with a bigger bill. Microsoft has spent the past year weaving Copilot into just about everything it sells, from Microsoft 365 to Windows, with pricing following close behind. The Italian case also lands just weeks after the UK's Competition and Markets Authority launched a strategic market status investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem. That inquiry is focused on competition issues, including bundling, licensing practices, interoperability, and default settings as AI becomes embedded across workplace software. Italy's watchdog appears less interested in Microsoft's market power than in whether customers knew what they were signing up for in the first place. ®

Microsoft Probed in Italy Over Pricing of AI Bundles -- Update

Italy's antitrust watchdog launched a probe into Microsoft's pricing, saying the U.S. tech giant might have failed to clearly inform users that artificial-intelligence tools had been bundled into its Microsoft 365 suite of products. The Italian Competition Authority said Friday that its investigation focuses on how Microsoft told consumers about an increase in the subscription price for its Microsoft 365 service. The company might have failed to make it sufficiently clear to consumers that the subscription service had been integrated with its Copilot and Designer AI tools, and might have made it difficult to opt out of a price increase by placing them by default on a higher-cost plan, the authority said. A Microsoft spokesperson said the company is committed to complying with Italian consumer law and will cooperate with the Italian Competition Authority in its investigation. The regulator said it would investigate whether Microsoft's behavior breached consumer rules. The investigation in Italy comes after Australia's consumer watchdog sued Microsoft last year, claiming the company didn't clearly tell existing Microsoft 365 subscribers how to decline paying for Copilot AI tools when their annual plans renewed.