ByteDance takes legal action against Tencent for its ‘monopolistic’ behaviour, seeking RMB 90 million

ByteDance is taking legal action against Tencent for blocking traffic from WeChat and QQ to Bytedance’s platform. The company is seeking RMB 90 million (USD 14 million) compensation for Tencent’s monopolistic behaviour.
Being one of the key players in the Chinese social media battleground - Bytedance, the owner of Douyin with over 500 million monthly active users and Tiktok with 700 users globally; and Tencent - the owner of WeChat and QQ with a total active monthly user of 1.8 billion, tension has been soaring between the two companies in recent months, particularly triggered by the growth of m-commerce demand in the post-Covid era.

Filing a formal complaint at the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, ByteDance accused Tencent of restricting users to share Douyin content on WeChat and QQ, hindering a significant amount of traffic to its platforms. The company stated that Tencent’s ban on external traffic to Douyin not only is a monopolistic behaviour but also undermines users’ rights.

Tencent commented that it hadn’t received any document about the lawsuit, saying that ByteDance’s allegations are “not true”.

What do we think?

In the past, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent are the three dominant technology players in China. The block of interlinks between these platforms - especially between Alibaba and Tencent to avoid losing traffic from its enclosed ecosystem to its competitors, has been a known norm. With the fast-growing company ByteDance joining the scene, it rocks the boat and wants to challenge this status quo amongst the industry.

Indeed not good news for Tencent if ByteDance succeeds in overriding this norm. Still, as a digital marketer, we think this would mean a better-streamlined ecosystem that allows a free flow of traffic between apps and sites, which, in the end, benefit the audiences and market. The change would also suggest a better promotion for brands and user experiences across different platforms.

All in all, the digital world is about the audience first, not the platform.

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