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British businesses have filed a £1.7 billion ($2.3 billion) class-action lawsuit against Microsoft on Thursday, April 23, 2026, accusing the US tech giant of using its market power to overcharge.
The case was brought by digital markets expert Maria Luisa Stasi, who is representing about 59,000 businesses and organisations across the UK. The lawsuit claims that Microsoft overcharged customers using its Windows Server software on rival cloud computing platforms.
“For years, Microsoft’s practices have had real financial impact on both public and private organisations,” Stasi said.
Judges at the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Tuesday certified the case to proceed to trial, ruling that it had a “reasonable prospect of success”.
“Microsoft is alleged to be abusing its dominance in the paid server OS (operating system) market to harm competition in the cloud computing services market,” the judges said.
If the case succeeds, claimants say compensation could range from £1.7 billion to £2.1 billion. However, Microsoft has said it plans to appeal.
“We also dispute the underlying allegations by the class representative, and today’s decision makes no final determination on those claims,” the spokesperson said.
Additionally, Microsoft’s cloud computing practices are under scrutiny by Britain and the European Union regulators. They are investigating the company’s software licensing practices in the cloud market to determine whether it should be given “strategic market status,” subjecting it to special requirements to improve competition.
