Although CNN Business did not see the lawsuit filed at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, several state media outlets, including the Beijing Daily, reported that Douyin is asking Tencent to lift its content restrictions and pay 90 million yuan (US $ 14 million) in economic losses and fees.
“We believe that competition is better for consumers and promotes innovation,” said a spokesman for Douyin in a statement to CNN Business. “We have filed this process to protect our rights and those of our users.”
Tencent shot back, saying in his own statement on WeChat on Tuesday that he plans to sue ByteDance as well.
“The relevant ByteDance allegations are purely false and malicious,” said Tencent. He accused Douyin of having “WeChat user information obtained illegally” and infringing consumer rights.
The two companies have been in conflict for some time. Since 2018, they have regularly accused themselves of unfair competition, a dispute that sometimes unfolds in the courts. Chinese media even called the spitting “big Tou-Teng fight”, a play on words using the news app “Toutiao” by ByteDance and the Chinese name of Tencent “Teng Xun”.
But the struggle takes on new meaning now, during a time of turmoil in China’s technology industry.
Regulators have also issued new guidelines that they say are aimed at avoiding Internet monopolies and have even opened an investigation into Alibaba for antitrust reasons.