Microsoft accuses Google of running “shadow campaigns” to discredit it with European regulators, including by organizing an “astroturf group” of cloud providers
Microsoft took the unusual step Monday of publicly accusing longtime rival Google of running …
The dispute also has a longer lobbying-history backdrop: Microsoft previously supported groups seeking regulatory action against Google in Europe and the US. The new claim makes the credibility and sponsorship of industry advocacy part of the competitive fight, not just cloud licensing.
First-order effects
Microsoft publicly shifts the argument from the substance of Google's cloud complaints to the alleged organization behind them; Google now faces pressure to rebut claims about its role in third-party advocacy.
European regulators and cloud-provider groups are put on notice that the funding, coordination and independence of submissions may become material to how each side's claims are received.
Second-order effects
Cloud rivals and trade groups may face greater scrutiny to disclose sponsors and governance when intervening in Microsoft-Google regulatory disputes, raising the cost of coalition-based advocacy.
The allegation gives Microsoft a defensive narrative against regulatory challenges to its cloud terms, while Google has an incentive to keep attention on the underlying concerns raised in its EU cloud complaint.
Third-order effects
If repeated, this points to cloud competition being fought increasingly through regulator-facing coalitions as well as product and pricing decisions; perceived independence of those coalitions could become a strategic asset.
The broader risk is that antitrust scrutiny expands from platform conduct to the mechanisms used to shape enforcement agendas, though the available coverage does not establish how regulators will respond to this particular allegation.
The trend: Hyperscale cloud competition is increasingly turning licensing and interoperability disputes into contests over regulatory influence and the legitimacy of industry coalitions.
it's nothing new that Google has organised these campaigns; it's new for Microsoft to say so (because Microsoft's attempts to call Google out in the past have tended to backfire on it) [embedded post]
What's remarkable is that these two had a truce in 2016 after a decade of fighting. Then it was Google on the back foot & Msft throwing stones. Now it's the reverse. @RimaAlaily Msft lawyer says Google is funding attacks on her company to distract from its own problems. /2
Woah. Microsoft just completely unloaded on Google. And just one day ahead of Google earnings. And I have to say, I appreciate Microsoft standing up to the abusive bully that props up and hides behind astroturf groups and paid influencers and academics. /1 [image]
A “reckoning.” Bravo, MSFT. Although Microsoft calls out the astroturf groups, I'd also throw in the groups who are heavily funded by Google (eg Chamber of Progress, CCIA, NetChoice, IAB) but have executed Google's needs under the veil of the industry. /3 [image]
Here is the full post. It's a stop what you're doing if you follow our industry. And again, it's entirely fair imho - as an org who gets zero funding from Microsoft and frankly they're bad at driving revenues to our membership. Just speaking the truth. /4 https://blogs.microsoft.…
.@Microsoft just took an almighty swing at @Google. It says G is behind shady campaigns to discredit it before regulators in an #antitrust fight over cloud. Reminder: G has filed a formal complaint @EU_Commission Read the whole blog. It's fireworks. /1 https://blogs.microsoft.com…
Google is engaging in astroturfing efforts to discredit Microsoft with competition authorities and policymakers & mislead the public: https://aka.ms/... [image]