Microsoft in court for allegedly misleading Australians over 365 subscriptions

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Regulatory action and alleged misconduct

  • Commenters welcome the ACCC’s lawsuit, seeing it as consistent with prior Australian enforcement against misleading pricing and “drip pricing.”
  • The core allegation discussed: Microsoft obscured a “third option” to stay on existing Microsoft 365 plans/prices, effectively nudging millions into higher-priced Copilot bundles.
  • Some note this pattern also appears outside Australia (e.g., US, UK, EU customers), suggesting a global strategy rather than a regional mistake.
  • There is debate on penalties: one view is that AUD 50M is trivial; others point out potential multiplier provisions could raise the effective penalty substantially and act as a warning.

AI bundling, dark patterns, and price hikes

  • Many see Copilot as being forced onto users to manufacture “AI adoption” and justify higher prices, rather than because customers want it.
  • Complaints center on dark patterns: auto-migration to AI plans, hidden “Classic” / non-AI tiers only visible during cancellation flows, and confusing branding (multiple Copilots, “Copilot Chat,” etc.).
  • Users describe similar behavior from Google Workspace, Atlassian, Dropbox, etc., framing it as an industry-wide shift: bundle unwanted AI or premium features, then increase prices.

User experiences and trust erosion

  • Several people report being silently moved from $69/$99 plans to higher-priced Copilot plans, discovering only at renewal or via email framed as a generic “price increase.”
  • Workarounds are shared: start cancellation to reveal “Personal/Family Classic” or basic cloud-storage-only plans.
  • Some describe Office licenses morphing into cloud-tied, ad-filled experiences (e.g., forced OneDrive saving, persistent upgrade nags), which they regard as deceptive.

Alternatives and reactions

  • A noticeable number cancel outright or plan to when prepaid periods end, even when they admit the family pricing is “good value,” because they dislike the tactics.
  • LibreOffice is frequently cited as sufficient for typical consumer use; Excel’s advanced capabilities are acknowledged as a reason some organizations stay.
  • Some shift to Linux or non-Microsoft ecosystems altogether, seeing each incident as one more push away.

Broader themes: AI hype and corporate incentives

  • Many frame this as part of a broader “AI hype” bubble and “marketing-driven development” where features are built to sell upgrades, not solve problems.
  • There’s extensive discussion of dark patterns, weakened regulators, shareholder primacy, and a sense that large tech firms are normalizing deception as a growth strategy.