Last month, on 14th May 2026, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) formally launched a strategic market status (SMS) investigation into Microsoft's business software ecosystem, which covers all of Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel) as well as Teams, Copilot and Windows. It’s the fourth such investigation since the CMA launched its digital markets unit in January 2025.
An SMS investigation is the mechanism through which the CMA determines whether a company holds sufficient market power to warrant specific legal obligations. Designation does not assume wrongdoing, but it does open the door to enforceable conduct requirements.
The investigation will examine whether Microsoft's position across its digital ecosystem limits what customers can effectively choose in these markets. The CMA will look specifically at bundling practices, default settings, and interoperability barriers that may prevent switching, as well as whether competing AI tools can integrate with Microsoft's software in ways that give customers genuine access to products from other suppliers.
A particular concern is whether Microsoft uses its dominance in software like Windows Server and SQL Server to make hosting those products on rival cloud platforms, such as AWS or Google Cloud, more expensive or technically difficult.
This has relevance to journalism and independent media. It connects directly to the Center for Media and Digital Governance (CMDG's) recent work on cloud market concentration and its effects on news media sustainability, which found that aggregation of power in cloud infrastructure exacerbates existing pressures on public interest journalism.
The CMA published an ‘Invitation to Comment’ alongside the investigation notice, seeking views from businesses, customers, and competitors, with a submission deadline of 4 June 2026. Although that window has now closed, the investigation remains active. The CMA's timetable points to a provisional designation decision by Q4 2026, with a final decision and any draft conduct requirements following by mid-2027.
If Microsoft is designated as having SMS, the CMA could impose conduct requirements, accept voluntary commitments, or launch a pro-competitive intervention investigation where it finds harms to competition that conduct requirements alone would not adequately address. Each route carries different implications for civil society engagement, and the timeline runs parallel to the fair value exchange requirements from the AI search mandate expected to come into force in early 2027.
We will update you as progress happens.