JFTC Raids Microsoft Japan Over Cloud Antitrust Concerns
On February 25, 2026, the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) conducted an on-site inspection of Microsoft Japan on suspicion of violating the Anti-Monopoly Act. This action stems from allegations that the company unfairly impeded competition in the cloud market by restricting or imposing high fees for the use of its own products, such as “Windows” and “Word,” on other companies' cloud services. According to reports, this on-site inspection targets suspicions that Microsoft made it difficult or more expensive to use Microsoft 365 (including Office/Teams) and Windows on competitor cloud services (such as AWS) to secure an advantage for its own cloud service, “Azure.” This marks the second major investigation of Microsoft by the JFTC, and the first in 28 years since January 1998. On social media, “on-site inspection” became a trending topic, with many users paying attention to the news. Voices praised the JFTC's firm stance as “an extremely important step to protect the health of ...