Platforms Under Scrutiny

A UK tribunal has cleared a multibillion-pound case accusing Microsoft of making Windows Server cost more on rival clouds than on Azure. (computerweekly.com) The Competition Appeal Tribunal granted a Collective Proceedings Order on an opt-out basis, letting the claim proceed on behalf of about 59,000 UK businesses and public bodies. Claimant Maria Luisa Stasi says the overcharge could exceed £2 billion; Bloomberg reported the tribunal said the case had “reasonable prospects of success.” (computerweekly.com) (bloomberg.com) The claim centers on software licensing, the rules that decide what customers pay to run Microsoft programs on different providers’ infrastructure. Stasi alleges Microsoft charged more to run Windows Server on Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Alibaba Cloud than on Azure between 2015 and 2024. (computerweekly.com) (insurancejournal.com) That case landed after the UK Competition and Markets Authority finished a cloud market investigation on July 31, 2025 and said competition in cloud services was “not working well.” The regulator’s summary said Microsoft’s software licensing practices were among the issues harming switching and competition. (gov.uk) (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) In California, a separate case is now focused on online retail pricing rather than cloud contracts. Attorney General Rob Bonta said on April 20, 2026 that newly unsealed evidence in the state’s 2022 antitrust suit shows Amazon pushed vendors to raise prices on rival sites including Walmart, Target, Chewy, Best Buy and Home Depot. (oag.ca.gov) (cnbc.com) The filing describes emails in which Amazon told vendors to “fix,” “correct,” or “increase” prices elsewhere, then threatened penalties such as reduced promotions, demands for compensation, or product removal if they did not comply. CNBC reported one Hanes exchange said the company had contacted Target and Walmart to get prices raised, and another example involved Allergan eye drops after Amazon suppressed a listing. (oag.ca.gov) (cnbc.com) Amazon disputed the allegations. A spokesperson told CNBC the state’s motion was “a transparent attempt to distract from the weakness of its case,” and Bonta’s office said last week it expects a trial in January 2027. (cnbc.com) (oag.ca.gov) Federal regulators have been pressing a related theory against Amazon since September 2023. The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states said then that Amazon used “interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies” that stop rivals and sellers from lowering prices. (ftc.gov) The two cases turn on different products and different laws, but both are about the same kind of leverage: the power to write the rules for access to customers. In London, that means software terms for business computing; in California, it means marketplace terms that prosecutors say shaped prices across the wider web. (computerweekly.com) (oag.ca.gov)