The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is planning to set into motion an investigation into Microsoft Corporation's cloud computing business and its potential anti-competitive practices, the Financial Times reported on Thursday citing sources familiar with the matter.

As per the sources, the agency is currently looking into accusations that the tech giant is exploiting its market power by applying corrective licensing terms to stop its customers from moving data from Azure to rivaling platforms.

Among some of the behaviors being exercised are slapping higher subscription fees on those trying to leave, as well as imposing huge exit fees and programming its Office 365 products to not be compatible with competitors' clouds.