Chinese Tech Companies Asked to Stop Blocking Access to Others’ Website Links

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) held an administrative guidance meeting on September 9th and proposed standards for instant messaging services. The new proposal requires all platforms to stop blocking access to each other’s websites. Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance, Baidu, Huawei, Xiaomi, Hello Group, Qihoo 360 Technology, Netease, and other companies attended the meeting.

A source says the compliance standards by MIIT is conducive to maintaining users’ legitimate rights and interests while building an open and fair competition environment for the long-term development of the industry.

It is common practice for platforms to profit by blocking access to competitors’ websites and selling search lists. In February, ByteDance’s short video platform Douyin filed a lawsuit against Tencent in Beijing, accusing the latter of blocking users from sharing content from Douyin on its social networking platforms WeChat and QQ.

SEE ALSO: ByteDance’s Douyin Sues Tencent for Monopolistic Practices on WeChat and QQ

Chinese market regulators have long taken a positive approach to Internet industry connectivity. On July 26, on the ground of the previous APP rectification project, the MIIT addressed some of the internet industry’s pressing issues, particularly those that are seen to concern society as a whole. The MIIT is focusing on eight types of malicious practices that can disrupt market order, such as the discriminatory blocking of links and the interference in the products and services operated by other entities.,

In fact, “platform connectivity” has been widely discussed in the industry. In mid-July, Alibaba and Tencent agreed to open their ecosystems to each other. Alibaba may introduce WeChat payment into Taobao and Tmall, while Tencent will allow users to directly share Alibaba‘s e-commerce links and other information on WeChat.