(Yicai Global) Sept. 13 -- Chinese authorities have told internet platforms to stop blocking links to services offered by their competitors, amid an ongoing anti-monopoly crackdown across the sector.

China started to tighten up on the internet sector in July, and the blocking of links has been a key issue to solve, Zhao Zhiguo, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said at a State Council press briefing today.

Shenzhen-based Tencent Holdings said it will abide by the new rules and will gradually remove barriers to external links, The Paper reported.

The ministry held a meeting with internet platforms on Sept. 9 and told them to stop blocking external links from Sept. 17, Yicai Global learned. Tencent, online retail giant Alibaba Group Holding, Tik Tok owner ByteDance, mobile phone titan Xiaomi and video games developer NetEase were present at the meeting. 

Tencent-backed WeChat, the nation’s largest social media platform, does not allow its users to open links in its app to Taobao, Douyin and other rivals. There is speculation that Alibaba and Tencent will have to open their ecosystems to each other due to the country’s drive to curb abuses by big internet businesses.

Tencent’s operating environment is open in nature, and the firm’s goal is that small and mid-sized firms can be part of its ecology, President Liu Chiping said at its earnings presentation on Aug. 18, while saying that different platforms have different rules and regulations, so interconnections are complicated.

Editor: Tom Litting