Chinese market regulators released new anti-monopoly guidelines on Sunday targeting the internet platform by further tightening existing restrictions, faced by the country's tech giant.
The new rules formalize the previous anti-monopoly law draft issued in November and clarify monopoly practices planned by regulators.
The guidelines are expected to put new pressure on the country's leading internet services, including e-commerce websites such as Taobao and Tmall owned by Alibaba Group or JD.com.
It will also affect payment services such as Alipay from Ant Group or Wechat Pay by Tencent Holding.
The rules, issued by the National Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) on its website, prohibit any monopoly behavior in e-commerce platforms and protect fair competition in the market.
In addition, it will also stop companies from implementing pricing, blocking technology and using data and algorithms to manipulate the market.
In a Q&A that included the notice, SAMR also said reports on internet-related anti-monopoly behavior had increased, and it faced challenges to regulate the industry.
In recent months China has begun tightening its surveillance of its tech giant.
In December, regulators launched an anti-monopoly investigation into Alibaba Group following the postponement of the listing of publicly issued shares (IPOs) on the Shanghai Exchange resulting in losses of up to $ 3 billion.
