Douyin, ByteDanceโs Chinese version of TikTok, said on Tuesday it had sued Chinese social media giant Tencent for monopolistic behavior including blocking Douyinโs content on its WeChat and QQ instant-messaging apps.
Why it matters:ย The legal move comes as China tightens antitrust regulations for tech companies and refines its laws to better rein in the internet sector. While similar lawsuits had often resulted in a stalemate, it is believed that officials and judges will now be less tolerant of internet companies and anti-competitive behavior.
- The lawsuit is also seen as a tactical move as Douyinโs biggest domestic rival, Tencent-backed short video platform Kuaishou, is preparing to list in Hong Kong.
READ MORE:ย Chinaโs tech giants arenโt โimmuneโ to antitrust any more
Details:ย ByteDance has filed a lawsuit with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, accusing Tencent of violating Chinaโs Anti-Monopoly Law by restricting WeChat and QQ users from sharing Douyinโs short-video content, the company said on Tuesday.
- Tencentโs practice, it said, ran afoul of the Anti-Monopoly Lawโs provision of forbidding โmisusing a market-dominant position, and antitrust behavior of excluding and restricting competitionโ (our translation).
- ByteDance asked the court to require Tencent to cease such behavior and make a public apology. The Beijing-based firm is also seeking compensation of RMB 900 million (around $13.9 million) from Tencent.
- There are no other operators that provide services that rival WeChat and QQ, ByteDance said, meaning that Tencent enjoys a โmarket-dominant positionโโthe threshold for citing the Anti-Monopoly Law in court.
- Tencent said in a statement that ByteDanceโs accusations were โfalseโ and that the company will bring a countersuit.
- Tencent said Douyin had acquired WeChat usersโ personal information by โmeans of unfair competitionโ and had breached the platformโs rules.
Context: China has ramped up antitrust regulations in the tech industry in recent months. In December, the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR), Chinaโs top antitrust regulator, issued fines to Alibaba and affiliates of Tencent and logistics giant SF Express over three separate acquisition deals, a move that legal experts described as the countryโs first batch of antitrust enforcements against tech firms.
- SAMR had previously proposed an overhaul of the Anti-Monopoly Law in January and introduced a set ofย antitrust guidelinesย tailored for the internet industry in November.
- In March, ByteDance complained that WeChat had started blocking links to its enterprise messaging app and productivity tool Feishu.
