The new rules are bad news for Alibaba, among others, which has been tackled harshly in recent months.
The rules were already proposed in a preliminary version in November, and they have been formally announced since Sunday. The aim is to prevent large internet platforms from abusing their position to the detriment of consumers or traders who want to be active on multiple platforms.
To be clear, this mainly concerns Chinese technology companies, as large foreign players are barely or not allowed.
One of the rules, according to Reuters, is that merchants should no longer be forced to choose between significant players. Something that the Chinese government recently criticized Ant Group (part of Alibaba) because it demanded exclusivity.
The rules are bad news for Alibaba (Taobao, Ant Group), Tmall, JD.com, Alipay or WeChat Pay.
The Chinese government says it is currently stepping up its efforts against monopolies. It is also tricky because practices that encourage monopolies today mainly involve algorithms and data use.