The FTC is examining allegations that Microsoft is 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 competitors’ platforms.

According to the Financial Times, Vole might have substantially increased subscription fees for those who want to escape, charging steep exit fees and allegedly making its Office 365 products incompatible with rival clouds added.

A move to challenge Microsoft’s cloud business practices would mark the latest broadside against Big Tech by the FTC chair, Lina Khan. Khan has centred her tenure on aggressively curbing Meta and Amazon's monopolistic powers. Khan, who has become the public enemy for most of Wall Street’s dealmaking community, could be replaced with someone more “industry-friendly” after President-elect Donald Trump enters the White House next year.

While the Republican party has accused online platforms of allegedly censoring conservative voices and wanted Big Tech firms curtailed, most of Silicon Valley financed its return to power.

The FTC also highlighted fees charged on users transferring data out of cloud systems and minimum spend contracts, which offer discounts to companies in return for a set level of spending.

Microsoft has also attracted scrutiny from international regulators over similar matters. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is investigating Microsoft and Amazon after its fellow watchdog Ofcom found that customers complained about being “locked in” to a single provider, which offers discounts for exclusivity and charges high “egress fees” to leave.

In the EU, Microsoft avoided a formal probe into its cloud business after agreeing to a multimillion-dollar deal with rival cloud providers in July.

In 2022, the FTC sued to block Microsoft’s $75 billion acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard over concerns the deal would harm competitors to its Xbox consoles and cloud-gaming business. A federal court shot down the FTC's attempt to block it, which is being appealed. In the meantime, a revised version of the deal closed last year following its clearance by the UK’s CMA.

Last month, Microsoft accused Google of running “shadow campaigns” to undermine its position with regulators by secretly bankrolling hostile lobbying groups. Microsoft also alleged that Google tried to derail its settlement with EU cloud providers by offering them $500 million in cash and credit to reject its deal and continue pursuing litigation.