China unveiled the official version of the rules aimed at rooting out the monopolistic practices of the Internet industry on Sunday, after requesting information on the draft guidelines since November last year.
He the rules will take effect immediately, according to a statement from the State Administration for Market Regulation, the nation’s antitrust watchdog.
Regulation will curb anti-competitive behavior, such as sharing sensitive consumer data, forming alliances that eliminate smaller rivals, and subsidizing below-cost services to eliminate competitors, the regulator said.
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The Politburo of China, the highest decision – making body of the Communist Party, promised to meeting late last year to bolster anti-monopoly efforts in 2021. Less than two weeks after the meeting, China launched a research on Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. by allegedly monopolistic practices.
Companies have filed lawsuits over competition issues, even as regulators move to intensify control. ByteDance Ltd. filed a lawsuit last week against Tencent Holdings Ltd. for alleged monopolies on its WeChat and QQ platforms, escalating the dispute between two Chinese social media giants. A Beijing court has agreed to hear the case, a ByteDance representative confirmed on Sunday.
– With the assistance of Jessica Sui, Zheping Huang and Coco Liu