A sign of Tencent is seen during the third annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen town of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province November 16, 2016. — Reuters pic
The timing of the announcement also raised eyebrows, coming on the eve of China’s mammoth Singles’ Day, the world’s biggest shopping festival, which is propelled by Alibaba. “The dominance of the big players may have reached a point that is making authorities feel uncomfortable,” he said.The guidelines, put out by the State Administration for Market Regulation, take specific aim at internet platforms and issues such as exclusivity clauses that hinder competition.
China’s tech firms are known to have captive ecosystems. Alibaba’s Taobao platform, for example, supports payments via its own Alipay rather than Tencent’s WeChat Pay.