03:27 PM EST, 12/04/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Microsoft ( MSFT ) wants the Inspector General of the US Federal Trade Commission to open a formal probe into the agency's disclosure procedures following a news report last week which contained confidential information that could have only come from sources at the FTC.

Rima Alaily, a corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft ( MSFT ), said the Nov. 27 Bloomberg report, citing "people familiar with the information request," suggests the FTC is seeking hundreds of pages of documents about Microsoft's ( MSFT ) cloud, software and artificial intelligence businesses.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) also learned about the probe from the Bloomberg story and still has not received any information requests from FTC, Alaily said in a letter to Andrew Katsaros, who has been the FTC's inspector general since 2018. FTC staff also could not confirm such requests to the company.

This suggests agency personnel leaked non-public details of a potential inquiry to the media.

Alaily also contends unauthorized disclosures have been "steadily increasing" during Lina Khan's tenure as FTC chair, echoing conclusions from a report in September by Katsaros' office.

When contacted by MT Newswires, the FTC did not comment about Microsoft's ( MSFT ) allegations and also declined to say whether the company is the subject of an antitrust probe.

A Microsoft ( MSFT ) spokesperson also had no comment about a possible FTC investigation, and Alaily in her letter wrote, "Microsoft ( MSFT ), of course, cannot disclose that of which it has no knowledge."

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