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European Commission receives Kaspersky Lab’s complaint about Microsoft

Earlier on Tuesday, Kaspersky Lab applied to the EC and the Federal Cartel Office (Germany) with the request to check compliance of Microsoft's actions with antitrust laws

BRUSSELS, June 6. /TASS/ The European Commission (EC) has received the appeal of Russian anti-virus software developer Kaspersky Lab with claims to Microsoft, which concern the abuse of the dominant position on the market of operating systems and security software, a representative with EC press service told TASS.

"We received a complaint from Kaspersky Lab and we will consider it in accordance with the established procedure," the EC representative said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Kaspersky Lab applied to the EC and the Federal Cartel Office (Germany) with the request to check compliance of Microsoft's actions with antitrust laws, an official with the company told TASS.

According to Kaspersky Lab, the complaint concerns Microsoft’s abuse of the dominant position on the market of operating systems for computers and unfair competition on the market for anti-virus solutions threats.

"With the release of Windows 10, Microsoft began to create obstacles for competing manufacturers of security solutions and in various ways to push users to abandon third-party software in favor of Windows Defender. These actions of Microsoft lead to a decrease in the level of protection of users, limiting their choice and caused financial losses both among users and manufacturers of security applications, "the press service noted.

In particular, Kaspersky Lab noted, that it is impossible for users to completely turn off and/or remove Windows Defender at the user's request, which violates the right to decide which applications to install and run on their device.