Microsoft accused of anticompetitive practices by Slack in EU complaint

Slack went on the offensive with a complaint of anticompetitive practices against Microsoft.

What you need to know

• Slack accused Microsoft of anticompetitive practices in an EU complaint.
• Slack alleges that Microsoft's market dominance was abused to eliminate competition for Microsoft Teams.
• Specifically, the complaint alleges that millions were forced to install Microsoft Teams without the ability to remove it.

Microsoft was accused of anticompetitive practices in an EU complaint by Slack according to a new report from CNBC. Slack alleges that Microsoft's market dominance was abused to eliminate competition for Microsoft Teams. Slack alleges that this was done by tying Microsoft Teams to the Office suite. Slack also claims that millions of people were forced to install Teams and didn't have the ability to remove it. The allegations are laid out in a new post from Slack.

Microsoft has not responded to CNBC's requests at this time. We will also reach out to Microsoft and update this piece as more details come in.

These allegations seem to indicate a change in stance by Slack, or create a dichotomy between statements from Slack's CEO and the company's recent allegations. Less than two months ago, Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield said in an interview with CNBC, "What we've seen over the past couple of months is that Teams is not a competitor to Slack."

Stewart specifically addressed Microsoft tying Teams to what was then called Office 365 in 2019, stating "If it's based on the bigger distribution, I don't think that's really a threat." The bigger distritubtion in the quote rfeferring to Office 365, as reported by CNBC.