ByteDance has launched a new lawsuit against its main rival Tencent over alleged monopolistic practices, immediately eliciting a promise of retaliation from China’s largest tech company.
China’s top two social media giants are increasingly in competition as ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, swallows an increasing share of users’ screen time. The well financed start-up is also pushing into new fields where Tencent has long been dominant, such as gaming and payments.
ByteDance’s Douyin unit filed the lawsuit in Beijing on Tuesday, targeting Tencent’s years-long practice of blocking direct sharing of Douyin videos to users in its WeChat and QQ apps.