The State Administration for Market Regulation, China's market regulator, is investigating units of the domestic technology giants Alibaba and Meituan over alleged antitrust violations.

As reported by Reuters, the regulator is actively looking at Sankuai Information Technology, a division of Meituan that provides digital platform operations and core services for its parent company.

The regulator is also investigating three Alibaba units: travel and hotel booking platform Hangzhou Taomei Aviation Services; the travel service provider Tongcheng Network Technology; and the homestay and vacation rental platform Tujia Online Information Technology.

All affected platforms have issued statements indicating that they are cooperating with the authorities as the investigations are carried out.

It comes amid a broader investigation of the travel and hospitality sector by Chinese regulators, which has been backed by the China Hospitality Association (CHA).

The CHA has called on regulators to look at commission rates, preferential search rankings and promotional programmes as areas where online booking platforms potentially engage in monopolistic practices.

In July, the multinational travel agency Trip.com Group was fined 5.18 billion yuan ($765 million) after regulators concluded it had abused its position within the booking market to strike exclusive deals with hotel operators. The regulator noted it had engaged in traffic allocation and technical schemes to secure the deals.

At the time, the company said of the decision: “We sincerely accept and will fully comply with it, and will strictly follow the regulator's requirements to systematically implement each rectification measure, ensuring that all measures are carried out ‌effectively.”

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