October 29, 2024 – In a recent 1500-word blog post, Rima Alaily, the Deputy General Counsel of Microsoft, accused Google of using unfair tactics to undermine Microsoft. Alaily detailed multiple instances where Google attempted to discredit Microsoft through competition regulators, policymakers, and by misleading the public.
Despite Google’s offer of a nearly $500 million settlement, Microsoft reached an agreement with the European Cloud Infrastructure Services Providers Association (CISPE) to resolve their differences. In response to this setback, Google is now forming an “Open Cloud Alliance” in the UK and EU to lobbying efforts. The company has hired a lobbying and public relations agency and is recruiting several small European cloud service providers to join the alliance. This new organization, which will be guided and primarily funded by Google, aims to target Microsoft’s cloud computing business in the UK and EU. The recruitment documents for this organization do not mention Google’s involvement or clearly state the group’s actual purpose.
Microsoft also alleged that Google continues to lobby competition regulators globally, directly or indirectly, to impose restrictions on large cloud service providers, particularly Microsoft and AWS. Despite operating a data center capacity of 3,500 megawatts in 2023, which surpasses any other cloud service provider, Google attempts to position itself as a non-large or small cloud service provider to avoid regulation.
Furthermore, Microsoft’s blog post revealed that Google distributed a “fact sheet” in Washington D.C. earlier this year, raising concerns about Microsoft’s practices in the Chinese market. Microsoft claimed that Google’s document was misleading and filled with inaccurate information. Microsoft even raised this issue directly with Google’s leadership, but it remains unresolved.
Google has also been funding various industry commentators and scholars, either directly or indirectly, to attack Microsoft and produce “research” that could be used to discredit Microsoft in antitrust cases.
Microsoft emphasized that there are at least 24 antitrust investigations against Google globally. The company believes that instead of spending resources attacking competitors, Google should focus on addressing these issues.
The ongoing feud between these two tech giants highlights the fierce competition in the cloud computing market. It remains to be seen how Google will respond to these allegations and whether regulatory bodies will take action.
