Video: Bundled but Not Bound: Why CCI Didn’t See Microsoft Defender as Anti-Competitive

Sharveya Parasnison < 1 minute
< 1 minute

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) recently ruled that Microsoft’s bundling of its antivirus software, Microsoft Defender, with the Windows operating system did not significantly hurt competition. A complaint to the CCI had accused Microsoft of giving itself an unfair advantage by pre-installing Defender and making it the default security option. The complainant argued that this bundling discouraged innovation and placed third-party antivirus developers at a disadvantage—particularly when getting into the Windows ecosystem involves multiple hurdles. On the other hand, Microsoft defended its practices as standard in the industry and argued that it did not prevent users from installing other antivirus software. In this video, MediaNama journalist Sakshi Sadashiv K dives into the arguments made by both sides, as well as similar cases from the European Union. Does the mere presence of choice make a difference in a world where default settings are rarely changed?

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