Australia’s consumer watchdog, ACCC, or the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has alleged that tech giant Microsoft has misled millions of its customers with regard to its pricing for its Microsoft 365 services, as per a Reuters report.
The ACCC alleges the company did not tell consumers that they could retain their original plan, but instead presented them with two options: either pay a higher premium for Microsoft 365 with the co-pilot integration or cancel their subscriptions.
With the co-pilot feature included, the price for Microsoft 365 personal increased to $159 from $109, an uptick of 45%, while the family plan’s price increased to $179 from $139. Both of these increases were communicated via email and a company blog.
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Co-pilot is Microsoft’s custom built AI tool and one of the many Artificial Intelligence integrations made by tech companies such as Google, Apple, and Amazon to remain competitive with pure-play AI firms such as OpenAI.
The ACCC will now be seeking penalties, orders, injunctions, declarations, and consumer redress. The regulator has said that any penalty to be imposed will be decided by the court.
According to the Guardian, a Microsoft spokesperson has said that they are reviewing the ACCC’s claim in detail and will be committed to working constructively with the Australian regulator.
