(Yicai Global) July 30 -- Alibaba-backed lifestyle platform Xiaohongshu has accused Tencent-funded living guide Dianping of stealing some one million posts of content as the rivalry between the reviewing applications of different funders tightens.

Dianping explained that some users have taken advantage of its newly launched recommendation function and copied texts and photos from other sources, Tencent News reported. The Meituan-Dianping-owned platform removed the content on Friday and has come up with technical tools to stop such plagiarism from happening again.

China's two largest internet firms Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings often take opposite sides in their funding targets and thereby rival through their specific arms in different fields, such as car-hailing, bike-sharing, and food delivery.

"Due to the lag in the compliance management of new business, it [the lack of content vetting] has caused harm to Xiaohongshu and its authors, and we apologize for this and will ensure that such problems no longer occur through technical means," Shanghai-based Dianping said yesterday.

After Xiaohongshu's announcement, netizens chimed in, pointing out that many posts contained watermarks and other clear signs of stolen content.

Founded in 2013, Xiaohongshu first functioned as an application to share travel shopping tips, but has now morphed into a Chinese version of Instagram with links to e-commerce sites mostly for makeup and fashion shopping. Alibaba Group Holding led a USD300 million funding round to the over 100-million users' platform in June.

Meituan transformed into Meituan-Dianping after a merger in 2015, and the firm seeks a USD60 billion evaluation in its upcoming initial public offering in Hong Kong.

Editor: Emmi Laine