Microsoft Hit by French Antitrust Probe Over Rivals' Bing Access.

Microsoft is currently facing an antitrust probe by French authorities over allegations that the company is compromising the quality of search results for smaller rivals who use Bing technology in their search-engine products. The investigation is focused on whether Microsoft is unfairly providing subpar search results to smaller search engines that rely on Bing's extensive database. While Microsoft is not dominant in the general search engine market, it plays a significant role in search-engine syndication, with smaller engines like DuckDuckGo, Qwant, and Ecosia relying on Bing's search results. The French regulator, led by Benoît Cœuré, has been increasing scrutiny on major tech firms, having previously fined Google and warned Apple. Microsoft is cooperating with the probe, which could potentially lead to formal charges and fines. [Extracted from the article]