China tech watchdog warns internet firms against blocking rivals

China’s top technology regulator warned internet firms on Monday against blocking links to rival services, reaffirming Beijing’s order for online giants from Tencent Holdings to ByteDance to dismantle walls around their platforms.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has summo­ned executives from the country’s online platforms to emphasise the need to stop shutting out each other’s services, ministry spokesman Zhao Zhiguo told reporters in Beijing. Companies fail to realise that’s a problem for users, he said without naming specific firms. Regulators have ordered the country’s tech companies to prise open their so-called walled gardens or closed ecosystems, as part of a campaign to curb their growing power.