Beijing Blocks Merger, Tightens Knowledge Guidelines as Publish-Didi Crackdown Speeds Up

China’s Internet regulator on Saturday went on to oblige data-intensive tech companies to undergo cybersecurity reviews prior to any foreign listing, making a data security requirement explicit for the first time that would drive Didi Global Inc.’s IPO.

Regardless, China’s most important antitrust authority blocked Tencent Holding Ltd.’s offer on Saturday. to unite the two largest game streaming platforms in the country, their first public intervention to stop a merger in the Chinese technology sector.

The moves come at the end of a week marked by a spate of Beijing actions aimed at containing the country’s tech giants. The two steps are the clearest signals yet that authorities are tightening the leash for overseas listed Chinese companies amid data security concerns. It also shows that regulators are rethinking the bigger-is-better mentality that domestic companies like Tencent and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made it possible to become a global player.

The revision of the security clearance, released for public comment by the Cyberspace Administration of China on Saturday, states that companies holding personal information of at least one million users must apply for a cybersecurity clearance. Previously, companies seeking a listing abroad were not specifically required to conduct such reviews, although they would normally do so if asked by officials.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Didi, the Chinese ride-hailing company, pushed ahead with its $ 4.4 billion IPO in New York late last month despite being asked by China’s internet regulator to undergo a cybersecurity review .

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