Chinese short video app Douyin has filed a complaint to sue Tencent in a Beijing court for monopolistic behaviour. The ByteDance-owned company is also asking for $13.94 million in compensation.

According to ByteDance, Tencent restricts users from sharing Douyin content on its instant messaging apps WeChat and QQ. The company says that this should be prohibited by anti-monopoly law. It’s also asking the court to order Tencent to stop the behaviour.

“We believe that competition is better for consumers and promote innovation. We have filed a lawsuit to protect our rights and those of our users,” Douyin said in a statement.

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Chinese regulators have in recent months stepped up regulations on tech giants. In November 2020 the Chinese government issued draft regulations with the aim of preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet firms.

In December 2020, the country’s Regulatory agency announced the launch of an antitrust investigation into e-commerce giant Alibaba. This is the first time the country is making regulatory moves against its buoyant tech sector.

This is not the first time ByteDance is challenging rivals, Tencent, for monopolistic behaviour in court. In 2018, it also sued Tencent for anti-competitive behaviour.

At the time it alleged that Tencent’s social platform QQ zone and its Guanjia software blocked ByteDance’s news aggregator Toutiao’s links. Tencent in retaliation also sued the company for defamation.

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