China’s market regulator opened an investigation into Alibaba’s “suspected monopolistic conduct”. The State Administration of Market Regulation published a brief statement on its website announcing the antimonopoly investigation. The regulator appears to have questioned Alibaba’s “pick one out of two” policy in particular. According TechCrunch, this policy forces merchants to sell on Alibaba platforms exclusively and prevents them from selling on rival e-commerce sites, such as JD.com and Pinduoduo.
This is just one of the regulator’s latest measures to curb anti-competitive behavior among local technology companies. In November, it introduced new bills that would restrict companies’ data collection activities, along with other rules it says are designed to protect consumers. South China Morning Post also reports that the regulator has summoned Alibaba, JD.com, Tencent, Meituan, Pinduoduo and Didi Chuxing to a meeting on Tuesday to discuss a set of nine rules they need to follow. These tech giants will be “strictly prohibited from selling products below cost with the aim of eliminating competitors or seeking monopoly positions,” said the regulator.