Elsewhere, Ant Group has been summoned to meet with financial regulators to talk about the company’s compliance.
China’s antitrust watchdog has begun a probe into tech giant Alibaba Group over alleged anti-competitive practices. The State Administration of Market Regulation has kicked off investigations into the Alibaba Group, laying claim that the company has been involved in monopolistic conduct such as « forced exclusivity » by requiring e-commerce merchants to pick only one platform as their exclusive distribution channel, according to the South China Morning Post. In a statement, Alibaba said it would « actively cooperate with the regulators on the investigation », adding that the « company business operations will remain normal ». Last month, State Administration for Market Regulation slapped Alibaba and Tencent-backed China Literature with fines for failing to properly report past acquisitions deals for clearance. Alibaba and China Literature were each fined 500,000 yuan ($76,464), the maximum under a 2008 anti-monopoly law, reported Reuters. The acquisition deals that Alibaba were fined for included its $692 million investment in Intime in 2014 and the e-commerce giant’s $2.
