Chinese Government Tightens Regulations on Internet Companies: "Report Internal Investigations Within a Month"

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] The Chinese government has summoned major domestic internet companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, and Baidu, instructing them to conduct internal investigations and report any violations within a month.

On the 13th, the State Administration for Market Regulation announced that it held an 'Administrative Guidance Meeting for Internet Platform Companies' together with the Internet Information Office and the Taxation Bureau.

The meeting was attended by 34 leading Chinese internet companies, including the two major internet firms Alibaba and Tencent, search engine companies Baidu and Sogou, e-commerce companies JD.com and Pinduoduo, video platforms ByteDance and Kuaishou, ride-sharing company Didi Chuxing, food delivery companies Meituan and Ele.me, and online travel agency Ctrip.

Alibaba Group headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, eastern China / Photo by Yonhap News

On this day, Chinese authorities emphasized that stringent regulations on internet companies will continue. They demanded that within a month, companies conduct internal investigations to identify any illegal activities and disclose the results.

The authorities also plan to conduct separate verification investigations based on the internal reports and warned that if illegal activities are found after the one-month period, severe penalties will be imposed.

Last October, after Alibaba founder Jack Ma openly criticized the government's financial regulations, China significantly tightened regulations targeting large internet companies including Alibaba. Recently, Alibaba was fined a record-breaking amount of approximately 3 trillion won (18.2 billion yuan) for abusing its dominant market position in online distribution.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.