Microsoft Japan raided over suspected violation of anti-monopoly law, source says

TOKYO, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Japan’s Fair Trade Commission raided Microsoft Japan’s offices on Wednesday as part of an investigation into whether it improperly restricted customers of its Azure platform from using rival cloud services, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The person declined to be identified because the information is not public.

The FTC declined to comment.

A Microsoft Japan spokesperson said the company is “fully cooperating with the JFTC in their requests.”

The source said Japan’s antitrust authorities would also be seeking clarification from Microsoft’s parent company in the United States.

Microsoft Japan is suspected of setting conditions that effectively shut out other services by limiting access to popular services on other cloud platforms, the source said. 

Regulators in Britain, Europe and the U.S. have separately been examining Microsoft and others’ practices in relation to cloud computing. Brazil’s antitrust body last month opened an administrative investigation into the software giant’s local unit related to its cloud computing services.

(Reporting by Mariko Katsumura, Kentaro Okasaka and Kiyoshi TakenakaWriting by Chang-Ran KimEditing by Louise Heavens and Jane Merriman)