Big Tech Feud: Microsoft Joins Forces With Newspapers To Fight Google

Microsoft and Google entered an open feud on Friday over their practices and treatment of news outlets in a battle between antitrust targets of past and present.

While it is true that there have been simmering tensions between the tech giants for some time, an open rivalry was a little bit more than expected soon as executives of both firms wrestle for who goes under the table.

Earlier today, Google launched a devastating attack on Microsoft, accusing it of trying “to break the way the open web works in an effort to undercut a rival.” 

READ MORE: Google Threatens Withdrawal Of Search Engine From Australia

Google faces bipartisan complaints, and is also taking the heat from journalists over its role in gutting the media industry’s advertisement revenue, the subject of a Congressional antitrust hearing on Friday.

Microsoft targeted Google's dominance in advertising on Friday as it described in congressional testimony how the tech industry has contributed to the erosion of local journalism.

"The problems that beset journalism today are caused in part by a fundamental lack of competition in the search and ad tech markets that are controlled by Google," said Microsoft President Brad Smith in his written testimony to the House antitrust subcommittee. Microsoft, meanwhile, faces scrutiny for its role in back-to-back cybersecurity breaches.

Google swung back at Smith in a statement released ahead of the hearing, calling back to Microsoft’s period of antitrust scrutiny two decades ago.

READ MORE: 30,000 Organizations Newly Hacked Via Microsoft Server Flaws

“We respect Microsoft’s success and we compete hard with them in cloud computing, search, productivity apps, video conferencing, email and many other areas,” Google’s senior vice president of Global Affairs Kent Walker said in a blog post. “Unfortunately, as competition in these areas intensifies, they are reverting to their familiar playbook of attacking rivals and lobbying for regulations that benefit their own interests.”

“They are now making self-serving claims and are even willing to break the way the open web works in an effort to undercut a rival,” Walker wrote. “And their claims about our business and how we work with news publishers are just plain wrong.”

Recent flaws in Microsoft Exchange have opened the door for at least ten hacking groups to infiltrate thousands of servers across the globe. By exploiting the vulnerabilities, an attacker can steal emails from a corporate server and possibly also place ransomware.