China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has fined 12 companies involved in 10 deals that violated anti-monopoly rules, according to Reuters. The companies were fined 500,000 Yuan or $77,000 and include Baidu Inc. Tencent Holdings, Didi Chuxing, SoftBank, and a ByteDance-backed firm.
Tencent said it would actively rectify operations and provide the Chinese regulator with timely reports on deals in future.
ByteDance said a joint venture between its affiliated firm and Shanghai Dongfang Newspaper Co Ltd, which were both fined, was never in operation and the JV was disbanded in January.
Previously, the Chinese regulator fined Alibaba, Tencent-backed China Literature, and other firms for not reporting deals properly for anti-trust reviews.
China has stepped up scrutiny of internet giants in recent months on concerns of monopolistic behavior and potential infringement of consumer rights.
