Exclusive-Qwant asks French watchdog to take interim action against Microsoft, sources say
The Microsoft logo is seen at the Microsoft store in New York City, July 28, 2015. The global launch of the Microsoft Windows 10 operating system will take place on July 29. REUTERS/Mike Segar
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Qwant has asked France's antitrust regulator to take action against Microsoft for allegedly driving down the quality of the French search engine's results via Microsoft's Bing platform, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.
Qwant, which has historically relied on Microsoft's Bing platform, wants the regulator to take interim action against the U.S. tech giant while investigating its complaint, the sources said.
The French regulator has sought feedback from other search engines and will likely decide by September whether to take interim action and also whether to open a formal investigation into Microsoft, one of the people said.
Competition enforcers only take interim action if there is evidence that a company abuses its market power and has caused serious and immediate harm to the complainant.
The French competition enforcer and Qwant declined to comment.
"This complaint lacks merit. We are fully cooperating with the Autorite's investigation," a Microsoft spokesperson said, referring to the French watchdog.
Smaller European search engines typically rely on their bigger rivals' back-end technology to deliver search and news results.
Microsoft is a major player in the search-engine syndication sector but its smaller rivals fear the company will discontinue the service to their detriment.
Companies risk fines of as much as 10% of their global annual turnover for breaching French antitrust rules.
(Reporting by Foo Yun CheeEditing by Mark Potter)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
33 minutes ago
- The Sun
China offers cash rewards for hackers it says are Taiwanese military
BEIJING: Authorities in southern China announced on Thursday they were offering rewards of more than $1,000 for the arrest of 20 people they say are Taiwanese military hackers, drawing an angry reaction from Taiwan's defence ministry. The public security bureau in the Chinese city of Guangzhou said the hackers were part of the Taiwan military's Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command, and published their pictures, names and Taiwan identity card numbers. Rewards of 10,000 yuan ($1,392.25) will be offered to those who provide clues or cooperate in their arrest, it said in a statement carried by Chinese state media. The hackers were involved in organising, planning and premeditating attacks on key sectors such as military, aerospace, government departments, energy and transportation, maritime affairs, science and technology research firms in China as well as Hong Kong and Macau, Xinhua news agency said. Xinhua, citing a cybersecurity report, said the Taiwan 'information, communication and digital army' had cooperated with U.S. anti-Chinese forces to conduct public opinion and cognitive warfare against China, secretly instigate revolution and attempt to disrupt public order in China. Taiwan's defence ministry's Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command said in a statement it was not carrying out any 'corporate cyber attacks', and that China's offers of a bounty highlighted 'the rude and unreasonable attitude of the Chinese communists in intimidating and coercing the Taiwanese people'. 'Recent statements by the European Union, the United States and the Czech Republic condemning the Chinese communists' hacking organisations for carrying out cyber-attacks prove that the Chinese communists are not only a regional troublemaker, but a common threat to the global internet,' it added. A senior Taiwan security official told Reuters that the Chinese allegations were invented, saying Beijing was trying to shift the focus from Czech and European scrutiny over alleged Chinese hacking activities there. 'They fabricated a false narrative to shift the focus. It's a very typical behaviour by the Chinese Communist Party,' the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter. China also said Taiwan had longstanding cooperation with the U.S. National Security Agency, the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies as part of the United States' 'Asia-Pacific Strategy', calling it Taiwan's attempt to gain independence through relying on the United States. 'The US intelligence department has long provided personnel training and technical equipment support for Taiwan's 'information, communication and digital army', and many police stations have sent 'hunting' teams to Taiwan, to launch cyber attacks on China,' according to a social media post by an account linked to Chinese state television. Last week authorities in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, attributed a cyber attack on an unnamed technology company to the Taiwan government, saying Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party supported the 'overseas hacker organisation' responsible. In response, Taiwan said Beijing was peddling false information, and that it was China that was carrying out hacking against the island. China views Taiwan as its own territory. Taiwan's democratically elected government rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. Chinese courts and legal bodies have no jurisdiction in Taiwan, whose government has repeatedly complained about Beijing's 'long armed jurisdiction' efforts. ($1 = 7.1826 Chinese yuan renminbi)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
CD Projekt launches Cyberpunk 2077 game on Nintendo Switch 2
Boxes with CD Projekt's game Cyberpunk 2077 are displayed in Warsaw, Poland, December 14, 2020. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo GDANSK (Reuters) -Poland's biggest game developer CD Projekt said on Thursday that "Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition" had been launched on the Nintendo Switch 2 console, bringing it to Nintendo players for the first time. Back catalogue sales have become more important for developers due to the increasing number of delays to new games. Last month, Tomb Raider owner Embracer said it was leaning on its back catalogue to maintain cash flow while fewer games are being released. Since the release of "Phantom Liberty" expansion to "Cyberpunk 2077" in September 2023, CD Projekt has been relying on sales of existing games from its back catalogue. Erste Group analyst Krzysztof Tkocz said in a note to clients that the release on Nintendo Switch 2 "will have a significant impact on the company's results in second quarter and subsequent quarters". Gaming fans queued up for the launch of Nintendo's Switch 2 on Thursday amid pent-up demand for the more powerful next-generation gaming device. "We expect that this could be one of the most popular 3rd party games at the launch of the new console", Trigon DM analyst Grzegorz Balcerski said in a note to clients. The price of the game has been set at $69.99 for Nintendo Switch 2. (Reporting by Adrianna Ebert; Editing by Matt Scuffham)
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Brazen murders threaten Mexico City's image as pocket of safety in violent nation
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -On a Tuesday morning along a busy Mexico City avenue last month, a secretary to the city's mayor pulled her black Audi SUV up to a metro station to pick up a colleague. Their killer was waiting for them. The assassin shot the political staffers at point-blank range through the windshield, and then through the driver's window, before breaking into a sprint and disappearing into the city's morning bustle, CCTV video of the attack seen by Reuters shows. The murders of Ximena Guzman, a secretary to Mexico City Mayor Clara Brugada, and Jose Munoz, the mayor's adviser, immediately sent shockwaves through Mexico City's political and business elite. Not only was this kind of targeted political violence unusual in Mexico City, many of them believed the murders were a clear message to Brugada from organized crime groups to give them free rein. With around 30,000 homicides a year, Mexico has one of the highest murder rates in the world behind Myanmar, Honduras, and Jamaica according to a 2023 report by the UN. But the violence is almost entirely in areas outside the capital: all but one of the 37 candidates for local and federal office killed in the run-up to national elections last year were outside Mexico City. Experts have pointed to powerful drug cartels as the perpetrators. Reuters spoke to five business people who referred to the murders as shocking and terrifying, but declined to be named for fear of putting themselves at risk. One bank executive said he already uses an armored vehicle and didn't expect to boost security measures further. Not since the dramatic assassination attempt in 2020 of Mexico City police chief Omar Garcia Harfuch -- now Mexico's Security Minister -- has the capital seen what at least two experts said is a blatant effort to intimidate its political leaders. The killings have, at least momentarily, pierced the city's reputation as a safe haven from the country's widespread political violence. There is much at stake for the capital. Mexico City is the country's beating heart: a business, political and tourist hub vital to both the functioning of Latin America's second largest economy and its global image. Any sense the city is no longer safe could deal a devastating blow to its image, especially as Mexico co-hosts the 2026 soccer World Cup alongside Canada and the United States. The Mexico City attorney general's office has not released findings from its ongoing investigation into the crime or identified a suspect. But three security analysts told Reuters the public nature of the attack and its high-profile targets point to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the most powerful criminal groups in Mexico and labeled by the U.S. as a terrorist organization. The killings showed signs of meticulous preparation, said David Saucedo, a security expert in Mexico City who advises state governments and companies on security issues. He noted they occurred during President Claudia Sheinbaum's morning press conference, where she touted arrests and the confiscation of weapons from criminal groups across several states. "They did it with the objective of dismantling Claudia Sheinbaum's narrative," Saucedo said. "If you want to make a big media splash, you do it in the capital." Mexico City's government and the presidency did not respond to requests for comment. After the killings, Brugada promised the crime would not go unpunished and that her government would continue its fight against violent crime. Mexico City police said the case is being investigated with "the same rigor that every homicide in the city is investigated with." TOURIST HOTSPOT Mexico City in recent years has become a tourist hotspot, with over a million tourists landing at the capital's airport between January and March this year, following only Cancun as the country's airport with the heaviest traffic. Safety has been vital to the city's renaissance as an attractive destination for business and tourism. Between 2019 and 2023, when Sheinbaum was the city's mayor, homicides in the city plummeted by roughly half, according to federal government data - a record she campaigned on in her successful bid the for the presidency. Still, the presence of drug cartels in Mexico City remains beneath the surface. Business owners say it is common for organized crime groups to force nightclubs to allow them to sell drugs in their bathrooms, while some restaurants are told to make extortion payments to operate. Some of the city's wealthier residents have been taking more precautions in recent months, said Fernando Ortega, from Blindaje Diamante, an armored car shop in Mexico City, noting a rise in sales of armored cars this year. "There is a market that might not have the budget for a full armoring, but wants to feel protected," Ortega said. Security analysts say Brugada now faces a dilemma - she cannot let the crime go unpunished but a hardline response risks retaliatory attacks in the city from criminal groups. That mirrors the broader security challenge in the country, especially as U.S. President Donald Trump demands a stronger response to organized crime in Mexico. "Mexico is stuck between a rock and a hard place," said David Shirk, a professor at the University of San Diego, who studies security issues in Mexico. (Reporting by Rafael Escalera Montoto; editing by Emily Green and Deepa Babington)
