EU moves to designate Microsoft Azure as gatekeeper

The European Commission has preliminarily found that Microsoft Azure meets gatekeeper thresholds under the Digital Markets Act, which could impose new obligations on the cloud platform.windowsforum
Italy's competition authority opened an investigation June 26 into whether Microsoft adequately informed consumers before auto-migrating them to pricier AI-bundled Microsoft 365 plans.reuters+1
The actions add to a UK antitrust probe launched in May and earlier FTC scrutiny, reflecting widening regulatory concern over AI bundling across Microsoft's ecosystem.gov+1

Microsoft is facing a fresh wave of regulatory scrutiny across Europe over how it packages and promotes its artificial intelligence tools, with both the European Commission and Italy's competition authority taking action in recent days that could reshape the company's AI distribution strategy.

Brussels Eyes Azure as a Gatekeeper

The European Commission has issued a preliminary finding that Microsoft Azure meets the threshold for designation as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, according to a report from Simply Wall St on June 30. The move signals that EU regulators view cloud infrastructure as an access layer through which AI workloads, productivity software, and customer relationships increasingly pass — and one that warrants the same oversight applied to dominant platforms like app stores and search engines.windowsforum

If finalized, gatekeeper status would impose obligations on Microsoft to preserve contestability and prevent unfair self-preferencing across its ecosystem, which spans Windows, Microsoft 365, Copilot, and Azure-hosted AI services. The designation would mark a consequential expansion of DMA enforcement into cloud computing. Spanish newspaper El País reported that the Commission considers both Amazon Web Services and Azure should be designated as gatekeepers.windowsforum

Italy Probes AI-Driven Price Increases

Separately, Italy's competition authority (AGCM) opened an investigation on June 26 into Microsoft over alleged unfair commercial practices tied to its Microsoft 365 subscription pricing. According to Reuters, the AGCM is examining whether Microsoft adequately informed consumers that Copilot and Designer AI tools had been integrated into Microsoft 365 subscriptions ahead of a price increase taking effect July 1, 2026.thenextweb+2

The regulator's concern centers on customers being automatically migrated to a more expensive AI-bundled plan without sufficient disclosure or a clear path to decline, according to The Register. Microsoft said it is "committed to complying with Italian consumer law" and will cooperate with the investigation, Computerworld reported.theregister+1

A Familiar Pattern Under New Scrutiny

The actions come on top of the UK Competition and Markets Authority's strategic market status investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem, launched on May 14, which covers productivity tools, operating systems, and AI integration practices including Copilot. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has also intensified its examination of Microsoft's AI and cloud practices, Reuters reported in February.gov+2

The European scrutiny echoes the Commission's earlier Teams bundling case, which Microsoft settled in September 2025 by agreeing to offer Office suites without Teams at reduced prices. Regulators appear to view the Copilot rollout as a continuation of the same strategy: attaching new services to dominant subscriptions and letting distribution gravity do the work of adoption.wsj

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