Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 27, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 20, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFrench antitrust authority dismisses Qwant's complaint against Microsoft for lack of evidence. Microsoft supports the ruling, while Qwant plans to appeal.
PARIS (Reuters) -French antitrust watchdog on Thursday dismissed a complaint filed against Microsoft by local search engine Qwant which accused the U.S. company of abusing its dominant position.
The Autorite de la Concurrence, as the watchdog is known, said Qwant failed to bring elements sufficiently convincing to sustain its claims and also declined to enforce the interim action against Microsoft requested by Qwant.
Qwant, which has historically relied on Microsoft's Bing platform to deliver search and news results, last month said that it expected its complaint to be dismissed and that it would challenge it in court or take it to other authorities.
The U.S. tech company welcomed the ruling. "We agree with the decision and remain committed to providing high-quality search services and fostering innovation for consumers and partners in France and across Europe," a Microsoft spokesperson said.
Qwant had alleged Microsoft imposed exclusivity restrictions on Qwant in search results and search advertising, hampering the latter's ability to develop its own search engine and its own artificial intelligence. The French company also alleged Microsoft favoured itself in allocating search advertising.
Microsoft is a major player in the search-engine syndication sector, where it provides search results to smaller European rivals besides Qwant, such as Ecosia, DuckDuckGo and Lilo.
Qwant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Foo Yun CheeEditing by Tomasz Janowski)
Antitrust law is a set of regulations that promote competition and prevent monopolistic practices in the marketplace. It aims to protect consumers and ensure fair business practices.
A dominant position refers to a company's ability to control a significant share of the market, allowing it to influence prices and competition. It can lead to scrutiny under antitrust laws.
A search engine is an online tool that allows users to search for information on the internet. It indexes web pages and retrieves relevant results based on user queries.
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines that are programmed to think and learn. It is used in various applications, including search engines and data analysis.
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