The Italian antitrust authority is launching an investigation into the integration of Copilot into the 365 subscription and the associated price increases.
The Italian antitrust authority AGCM has announced an investigation into Microsoft. The subject of the investigation is the integration of Copilot and the AI design tool Designer into the 365 subscription. According to the authority, Microsoft failed to sufficiently inform Italian consumers about the consequences for their subscriptions and the options available without mandatory Copilot bundling.
Since early 2025, Microsoft has been adding Copilot by default to the 365 subscription for both private and business users. It began this rollout in Australia and Asian countries, but the European Union soon followed. With this artificial intervention, Microsoft hoped to boost Copilot’s usage figures.
Price increases and hidden subscriptions
Naturally, Microsoft did not first ask its users if they actually wanted Copilot. On top of that, the subscription price promptly increased. Although Microsoft claimed that Copilot was ‘included’ in 365, the prices of subscription plans rose by dozens of euros annually. The name of the Office suite was also subtly changed to ‘Microsoft 365 Copilot’ to further emphasize the link.
Microsoft also makes it as difficult as possible to take out a subscription without Copilot. Those options do still exist under the name 365 Classic, but you have to look hard for them. The combination of higher prices and hidden cheaper plans is enough for the Italian authority to launch an investigation. This should determine whether Microsoft sufficiently informed customers about the changes before implementing them.
It remains to be seen whether the Italian investigation will be followed in other countries. Microsoft is certainly not the only big tech company guilty of forcing AI features on users. The billion-dollar promises surrounding AI technology must eventually be fulfilled. Earlier, an investigation into the forced Copilot integration was also launched in Australia.