China tells Alibaba, Tencent to open platforms up to each other

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s industry ministry has told technology companies including Alibaba (NYSE:) Group Ltd and Tencent Holdings (OTC:) Ltd to stop blocking each other’s website links from their platforms, the 21st Century Business Herald said Saturday.

The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed standards to companies on Friday for instant messaging services, telling them all platforms must be unblocked by a certain time.

The ministry said it may have to resort to other measures if the firms did not comply, the newspaper said.

The move is the latest in a regulatory crackdown spanning industries from tech to entertainment and gaming companies.

Companies that attended the meeting included Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu Inc (NASDAQ:), Huawei Technologies Co and Xiaomi (OTC:) Corp, the newspaper said. The companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

China’s internet is dominated by a handful of technology giants who have historically blocked links and services by rivals on their platforms, creating what analysts have described as “walled gardens”.

Regulators in recent months have cracked down, accusing companies of building monopolies and restricting consumers’ choices.

In July, the Wall Street Journal reported that Alibaba and Tencent were gradually considering opening up their services to each other, such as by introducing Tencent’s WeChat Pay to Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall e-commerce marketplaces.

Disclaimer: Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. All CFDs (stocks, indexes, futures) and Forex prices are not provided by exchanges but rather by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual market price, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Therefore Fusion Media doesn`t bear any responsibility for any trading losses you might incur as a result of using this data.

Fusion Media or anyone involved with Fusion Media will not accept any liability for loss or damage as a result of reliance on the information including data, quotes, charts and buy/sell signals contained within this website. Please be fully informed regarding the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, it is one of the riskiest investment forms possible.