Chinese regulators have hit e-commerce giant Alibaba with a massive
$2.78 billion fine over practices deemed to be an abuse of the company's dominant market
position, state-run media reported on Saturday.
The investigation and fine centered on Alibaba's alleged practice of requiring that
merchants who wish to sell their wares on its popular platforms do so exclusively, avoiding rival e-commerce sites
China eyes record monopoly fine of $1 billion for Alibaba
The size of the penalty was determined after regulators decided to fine Alibaba four per cent of its 2019 sales of 455.7 billion yuan, Xinhua said
Alibaba and other leading Chinese tech companies have come under pressure
amid growing concern over their influence in China, where tech-savvy consumers use leading
platforms to communicate, shop, pay bills, book taxis, take out loans and perform a range
of other daily tasks
Alibaba unit develops facial recognition tech to identify Uighur people
Alibaba in particular has been under scrutiny since the last October when co founder
Jack Ma criticised Chinese regulators as being behind the times after they expressed growing
concern over the push into loans, wealth management, and insurance
by Alibaba's financial arm, Ant Group.
China has been seeking to rein in runaway personal debt and chaotic lending, and upstart Ant's growing profile and Ma's rare public criticisms have been viewed as a challenge to China's state dominated financial sphere
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