Auto companies reported Tencent’s abuse of dominant market position.
On February 9, China Botai Telematics and SAIC-GM-Wuling jointly submitted a report to the Anti-Monopoly Bureau of the State Administration of Market Supervision, alleging that Tencent abused its dominant market position to exclude and restrict competition in the market of auto networking products and services.
According to Shanghai Botai, the company developed a cell phone App called “New Baojun Car Link” and “Notification Extension Assistant” software for Wuling vehicles, which can send and receive WeChat messages through cell phone projection. This system uses the “accessibility permission” and “get notification bar permission” of the Android operating system to simulate clicking on different locations of the cell phone screen and to realize cell phone screen projection and voice recognition on the car product.
The report revealed that Tencent sent a legal letter to car manufacturers including SAIC-GM-Wuling in August last year, requesting to stop using the relevant Telematics software products supplied by Shanghai Botai Telematics.
Tencent responded that the accusation was “malicious speculation of monopoly, which should not be used as a shield for infringement” and emphasized that it follows the concept of fair competition and open cooperation.
Tencent said that Botai Telematics had not obtained Tencent’s authorization and license to develop the “New Baojun Car Link” App and “WeChat Notification Assistant” software, which allegedly constituted trademark infringement and unfair competition, and the company had filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court on September 29, 2020. The company has filed a lawsuit with the Shenzhen Intermediate Court on September 29, 2020 and the case was officially filed on October 29, 2020.
Tencent also said that the “New Baojun Car Link” App and “WeChat Notification Assistant” software launched by Botai and Wuling Motors have been tested to have several problems, including collecting, storing and uploading sensitive data such as WeChat contact information and chat information without the explicit authorization of Tencent and users. These include collecting, storing and uploading sensitive data such as WeChat contact information and chat information without the explicit authorization of Tencent and users, and forging Android Auto applications to trick WeChat into obtaining a reply interface for WeChat messages, thereby realizing various complex functions and posing a risk to users’ driving safety. Tencent accuses these software of trademark infringement and unfair competition.
Public information shows that Shanghai Botai is a provider of Telematics hardware and software and related services, with major customers including but not limited to SAIC-GM-Wuling and other well-known domestic and international automakers. Founded in 2002, SAIC-GM-Wuling is a large Sino-foreign joint venture automobile company jointly established by SAIC Group, General Motors (China) Corporation and Liuzhou Wuling Automobile Company.
There has been more than one anti-monopoly lawsuit against Tencent. Previously, Tencent and ByteDance had also faced each other for reposting ShakeYin content in WeChat.
On February 2, 2020, Jitterbug, a subsidiary of Byte Jump, filed a petition with the Beijing Intellectual Property Court, suing Tencent for monopoly, arguing that Tencent was monopolizing by restricting users from sharing content from Jitterbug through WeChat and qq, and asking the court to order Tencent to stop this behavior and pay RMB 90 million in damages.
According to public information, in April 2018, WeChat and QQ began blocking Jitterbug, and users sharing Jitterbug links to the aforementioned platforms were unable to play normally, which has lasted for nearly three years now. However, Tencent’s and other third-party short-video applications, such as Weishi and Crypto, can be shared and played normally on WeChat.
In its lawsuit, Jieyin said that Tencent’s instant messaging applications WeChat and QQ have more than 1.2 billion and 600 million monthly active users respectively, and no other operator in the market can match them, which means Tencent “has a dominant market position. Therefore, Tencent’s act of banning Jitterbug is a symptom of abuse of its dominant market position. Tencent’s blocking not only undermines users’ rights and interests, but also disrupts the normal operation of Jieyin’s products and services, and excludes and restricts market competition.
In response to the lawsuit launched by Jitterbug, Tencent responded that Tencent and its products follow the concept of fair competition and open cooperation to provide services to users and third-party products. The relevant allegations by Byte Jumping are purely untrue and malicious false accusations.
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