(Reuters) ByteDance’s Chinese short video app Douyin has filed a complaint with a court in Beijing to sue Tencent Holdings for monopolistic behavior and asked for 90 million yuan ($13.94 million) in compensation, ByteDance said on Tuesday.
Tencent restricts users from sharing Douyin content on its instant messaging apps WeChat and QQ, which should be prohibited by anti-monopoly law, ByteDance said, adding that it has asked the court to order Tencent to stop such behavior.
“We believe that competition is better for consumers and promote innovation,” Douyin said in a statement. “We have filed a lawsuit to protect our rights and those of our users.”
Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Douyin’s lawsuit comes as Chinese regulators step up regulations on tech giants. Beijing issued draft rules in November aimed at preventing monopolistic behavior by internet firms, marking China’s first serious regulatory move against the sector.
The State Administration of Market Regulation in December announced the launch of an antitrust investigation into e-commerce giant Alibaba.
ByteDance competes with Tencent in social media in China and has challenged Tencent previously. In 2018, it sued Tencent for anti-competitive behavior, alleging Tencent’s social platform QQ zone and its Guanjia software blocked ByteDance’s news aggregator Toutiao’s links.
Tencent filed a lawsuit accusing ByteDance of defamation around the same time.
($1 = 6.4561 Chinese yuan renminbi)
Source: Reuters; Reporting by Yingzhi Yang in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai, Additional reporting by Pei Li; editing by Ed Osmond and Jason Neely
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