Kaspersky files antitrust complaints against Microsoft in Europe

Kaspersky Lab has filed antitrust complaints against Microsoft in Europe, accusing the company to make it more difficult to run Kaspersky antivirus on Windows 10 and Microsoft promote alternative.

Eugene Kaspersky, a co-founder of Russia's cyber security firm, announced Tuesday that the company had recently filed antitrust complaints with the European Commission and the German Federal Cartel Office. Kaspersky had raised the issue with Russia's antitrust regulator in November.

"We see clearly - and we are ready to demonstrate - that Microsoft uses its dominant position in the computer operating systems market to vigorously promote its own lower security software," Kaspersky said.

In many cases, according to Kaspersky, customers upgrade their operating system to Windows 10 from previous versions to find their Kaspersky antivirus tools have been deleted or disabled. The company also criticized Microsoft because it is impossible to remove Windows Defender, Microsoft's antivirus software, in some Windows editions.

In a statement, Microsoft said its goal was to protect Windows users and "we are convinced that the security features of Windows 10 comply with the competition laws."

Microsoft said it had expected Kaspersky a few months ago for a meeting among leaders to address concerns, but the rally did not take place.

Following the complaint by Kaspersky in Russia, regulators have held hearings on anti-virus policies from Microsoft in Windows 10. They have not come to a conclusion.

The latest complaints do not necessarily indicate that the European Union or the German regulatory authorities are conducting a study of Microsoft practices.

The EU was watching hard Microsoft over the years, which condemns the purchase of around 733 million in 2013 to break a promise to give Windows users a clear choice for the use of web browsers built by other companies.

This year one of the EU's data collection control body criticized what it said was a lack of transparency in Windows 10 data collection practices.