Chinese Regulators have warned e-commerce giants such as Tencent and Alibaba that monopolistic practices will not be tolerated. Not only were they warned but exacting fines were slapped on both organizations and plan to probe them as well.
Tencent and Hive Box would both be fined 500000 yuan for not properly reporting their past deals for anti-trust reviews by the State Administration of Market Regulation (SAMR).
This comes as another technology giant, Facebook is currently facing a lawsuit that may see it sell off both WhatsApp and Instagram in a lawsuit filed by as many as 46 states in the United States for similar charges.
Stocks from both companies fell due to the news, however, both Alibaba and Tencent are yet to respond to the news. It will also be the first time China will fine any internet company for violating the 2008 anti-monopoly law.