French regulators sided with Microsoft on Thursday, ending a high-profile antitrust dispute in the country. The Autorité de la Concurrence, France’s competition watchdog, officially rejected a complaint filed by Qwant, a local search engine company. Qwant had accused the American tech giant of abusing its dominant market position to stifle competition. However, the regulator ruled that Qwant did not present sufficient evidence to support these claims.
The dispute centers on how smaller search engines operate. Building a comprehensive web index from scratch is incredibly expensive and technically difficult. Because of this, companies like Qwant often rely on Microsoft’s Bing platform to deliver the search results and news feeds their users see. Qwant alleged that Microsoft used this reliance as a weapon. They claimed Microsoft imposed strict exclusivity deals that effectively handcuffed them. According to Qwant, these restrictions made it impossible for them to develop their own independent search technology or build their own artificial intelligence models. Additionally, they argued that Microsoft skewed the advertising market in its own favor, leaving smaller partners with lower revenue.
The watchdog did not just dismiss the main complaint; they also declined to force Microsoft to change its behavior while the investigation was ongoing. This result was somewhat expected. Qwant executives mentioned last month that they saw this dismissal coming. Despite the loss, the French firm says the fight is not over. They intend to challenge the ruling in court or to bring their grievances to other regulatory bodies that might view the matter differently.
Microsoft, on the other hand, celebrated the decision. A spokesperson stated the company agrees with the watchdog’s findings and remains committed to supporting partners in France and across Europe. This represents a significant win for the U.S. company, which serves as the backend provider for several other privacy-focused European search engines, including Ecosia, Lilo, and DuckDuckGo. For now, the status quo remains, and Microsoft will continue its syndication business without facing new legal hurdles from the French authority.
