Originally published at: Nextcloud decided to withdraw complaint against Microsoft - Nextcloud
We have decided to withdraw the complaint against Microsoft with the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Competition. We filed the complaint together with about 30 other organizations in 2021 against the bundling of OneDrive with Windows. Since filing the complaint there has not been any noticable progress. Given the lack of interest from the European Commission, lengthy process and costs on our side, Nextcloud decided to withdraw the complaint.
The problem is not resolved
We still believe that Microsoft heavily favors their own products and services (so-called “self-preferencing”) or outright blocks other vendors. Microsoft still uses their position as gate keeper to extend their reach in more and more markets and push users deeper into their ecosystems. The most recent step is making it even harder to use Windows without an account – which comes bundled with OneDrive and other services, and can automatically upload all your data to their cloud. This kind of behavior limits consumer choice and creates a barrier for other companies offering competing services.
Action is needed
Public awareness for dependency on big tech companies has significantly increased. Now, more than ever, we believe that data should not be concentrated in the hands of a few big tech companies.
Interestingly, the European Commission has acted on a complaint from US-American chat app Slack which is very similar to ours and in July 2023 opened an investigation into possible anticompetitive practices by Microsoft regarding Teams (complaint filed in July 2020), which resulted in Microsoft unbundling Teams from Office, which the Commission accepted in September 2025.
Our commitment
We will double down on innovation, working with our partners and the open source community to provide open source software for digitally sovereign collaboration and communication for our customers and users globally. This has been very successful, as thousands of happy customers with tens of millions of users across the private, education and public sector show, and we are currently seeing three times as much interest in Nextcloud as last year.
How you can help
How you can help
You can make a difference, too!
First, by advocating for digitally sovereign solutions, in your organization and outside.There is no technical reason not to deploy open source, digitally sovereign solutions today. There are proven, secure and scalable solutions including Nextcloud Hub already widely used in many places – from schools, cities and entire states to federal ministries, all over the world. Share examples like these and make sure people know there is a choice!
Second, contribute. You can join a company or one of the many non-profits that work on and promote sovereignty!
And, of course, free yourself from big tech!
Complaint with the German Federal Cartel Office ongoing
The withdrawal of the complaint on an EU level does not affect the complaint with the German Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) against Microsoft, which has seen progress last year. On Sep 30, 2024, the Bundeskartellamt determined that Microsoft is an undertaking of paramount significance for competition across markets.
The validity of the Bundeskartellamt’s decision is limited to five years in accordance with statutory provisions. Within this period Microsoft is subject to special abuse control by the Bundeskartellamt in Germany.
More background on the complaint and its history is available on antitrust.nextcloud.com.