Report: ByteDance’s Douyin files $14m anti-monopoly lawsuit against Tencent

The Beijing-headquartered operator of TikTok said that Tencent doesn’t allow users to share content from Douyin on its messaging platforms WeChat and QQ. ByteDance said that the move is prohibited by China’s anti-monopoly law and has asked the court to order Tencent to refrain from such behavior.

However, Tencent told Tech in Asia that it has not received any documents pertaining to ByteDance and called allegations made by the latter ‘groundless and defamatory’.

“Many of ByteDance’s products, including Douyin, have sought to obtain Weixin (WeChat in China) users’ personal information via various dubious and improper means and violated our long-established policies in protecting user privacy and data security,” said Tencent.

Tencent also said it will take legal action against ByteDance for invading Weixin users’ personal information to protect partners and users within its ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Douyin said in a statement that the lawsuit against Tencent is aimed at protecting the rights of the company and its users, adding that it believes competition is better for consumers and promotes innovation.

The development comes months after China kicked off an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices of tech giant Alibaba. The new rules by Chinese regulators were also expected to affect firms like Tencent’s WeChat Pay and food delivery app Meituan-Dianping.

Besides TikTok and Douyin, ByteDance runs content discovery platform Toutiao, streaming-focused Xigua Video, enterprise collaboration software Lark, and India-centric social media app Helo, among others.

Update (February 3, 1:08 am): This article was updated to include Tencent’s comments on the reported lawsuit by ByteDance’s Douyin.