Probe Microsoft like FB over anti-trust practices: Republican

San Francisco, June 22 Big Tech is out to get conservatives and Microsoft should also face the same anti-trust scrutiny like in the case of Facebook, Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH) has said in a letter written to Microsoft President Brad Smith.

Stressing that despite Microsoft's size and market dominance, House Democrats curiously did not significantly examine Microsoft's conduct during their investigation of competition in digital markets, Jordan said in the letter (dated June 21).

He added that "Democrats also seem to have excluded Microsoft from scrutiny in their large package of bills to radically rewrite American antitrust law".

The US is currently investigating top tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google over alleged anti-competition practices.

"It is unclear why Microsoft has avoided significant attention from House Democrats. The Democrats' investigation excluded Microsoft from significant oversight and the Democrats' recently introduced bills include a definition of a "covered platform" that could be read to exclude Microsoft," Jordan argued.

Microsoft was yet to comment on his letter to Smith.

Jordan said that Microsoft has similarly censored conservative speech on LinkedIn in the US.

"Multiple LinkedIn users have reported Microsoft's censorship of posts related to Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden. In one case, LinkedIn removed a post about an official US Senate committee report concerning Hunter Biden," he said.

"LinkedIn has restricted accounts for posts related to COVID-19. Citing its 'misinformation' policy, LinkedIn censored posts that the coronavirus originated from a dangerous laboratory in Wuhan, China, as well as posts that criticised government-mandated mask requirements," Jordan added.

Over the last three decades, Microsoft has acquired over 200 companies.

"As Democrats have excluded Microsoft from antitrust scrutiny, commentators have noted how Microsoft has taken advantage of the circumstances to pursue an aggressive acquisition strategy," the Republican said in his letter.

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