The French Competition Authority has dismissed a substantive complaint and a request for interim measures filed by Qwant SAS against Microsoft Corporation concerning alleged anticompetitive practices in search results syndication and online advertising markets.
Qwant, an operator in the general online search services sector, accused Microsoft of abusing both a dominant position and a situation of economic dependence. The complaint alleged that Microsoft imposed exclusivity and tied selling arrangements, restricted Qwant’s capacity to develop its own artificial intelligence model, and discriminated against Qwant in access to search-related online advertising services.
After examining the allegations, the Authority found that Qwant failed to provide sufficient evidence to demonstrate Microsoft’s dominant position in the market definition put forward, nor that the legal conditions for establishing an abuse of economic dependence were met.
As a result, the Authority rejected the substantive complaint in full. The request for interim measures was consequently denied.
The decision was announced in a press release issued on 27 November 2025.