Qwant, the French search engine that prioritizes user privacy, has
officially lodged a complaint with the competition authority in France
regarding the practices of Microsoft. Citing sources familiar with the
case,
Reuters
reports that Qwant accuses
Microsoft
of leveraging its dominant position via the Bing search platform to
negatively impact the quality of Qwant’s search results.

Qwant has historically relied on Bing technology to deliver its search and
news results, emphasizing its commitment to user privacy by avoiding data
collection for advertising purposes.Though, the company now contends
that its technical reliance on
Bing
is detrimental to its performance due to unilateral decisions made by
Microsoft.

In light of this situation, Qwant is urging the authority to implement
provisional measures while a comprehensive investigation is conducted.
Such action is only warranted if the regulator identifies an abuse of
dominant position resulting in notable and immediate harm to the
complainant.

Anticipated Decision by September

“This complaint is unfounded. We fully cooperate with the authority’s
investigation.”

According to sources, the competition Authority has already sought input
from other search engines operating within France. A decision is expected
by September regarding whether the conditions are met to impose protective
measures and, if necessary, initiate a formal investigation against
Microsoft.

Microsoft
has refuted the accusations, with a company spokesperson stating, “This
complaint is unfounded.We fully cooperate with the authority’s
investigation.” Smaller European search engines often depend on the
technical infrastructure of larger competitors to display search results.
service interruptions or degradation could considerably impact their
business operations.

Companies found to be in violation of French competition rules may face
financial penalties of up to 10% of their global annual turnover.