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US Regulators Reportedly Plan to Investigate Microsoft's Cloud Business

FILE PHOTO: A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
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US Regulators Reportedly Plan to Investigate Microsoft's Cloud Business

FILE PHOTO: A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A Microsoft logo is pictured on a store in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, US, January 25, 2021. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/File Photo

The US Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch an investigation into anti-competitive practices at Microsoft's cloud computing business, the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The regulators are examining allegations that the software giant is potentially abusing its market power in productivity software by imposing punitive licensing terms to prevent customers from moving their data from its Azure cloud service to other competitive platforms, the report said.
Tactics being examined include substantially increasing subscription fees for those that leave, charging steep exit fees and allegedly making its Office 365 products incompatible with rival clouds, according to the report.
FTC declined to comment while Microsoft did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

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Facebook Users Affected by Data Breach Eligible for Compensation, German Court Says

A Facebook logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado
A Facebook logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado
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Facebook Users Affected by Data Breach Eligible for Compensation, German Court Says

A Facebook logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado
A Facebook logo is displayed on a smartphone in this illustration taken January 6, 2020. REUTERS/Dado

A German court said on Monday that Facebook users whose data was illegally obtained in 2018 and 2019 were eligible for compensation.

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the loss of control over one's data online was grounds for damages without having to prove specific financial losses.

Thousands of Facebook users in Germany are demanding compensation from parent company Meta for insufficient protection of their data after unknown third parties were able to access user accounts by guessing phone numbers.

The claims, which stem from a data breach in 2021 of information gathered through the Facebook friend search feature, had been dismissed in principle by a lower court in Cologne and will now have to be re-examined.

The plaintiff had demanded damages of 1,000 euros ($1,056), but the BGH said that around 100 euros would be appropriate with no proof of financial loss.

According to the Karlsruhe-based court, the lower court must determine whether Facebook's terms of use were transparent and comprehensible, and whether users' consent to the use of their data was voluntary.

Meta previously refused to pay compensation on the grounds that those affected had not been able to prove any concrete damages.

A Meta spokesperson said the BGH's ruling was "inconsistent with the recent case law of the European Court of Justice, the highest court in Europe."

"Similar claims have already been dismissed 6,000 times by German courts, with a large number of judges ruling that no claims for liability or damages exist," the spokesperson said. "Facebook's systems were not hacked in this incident and there was no data breach."

Roughly six million people in Germany were affected by the leak.