Shanghai (AFP)

Beijing has whistled the end of recess: after having long closed its eyes to their practices, China wants to bring back in line its technological giants with disproportionate influence.

Internet and digital companies are particularly dynamic in China, where previously relatively lax legislation on personal data and the absence of foreign competitors - mostly blocked - have allowed local giants to emerge.

However, the tide is turning.

In early March, 12 companies - including e-commerce behemoths Alibaba and JD.com - were fined for violating anti-monopoly rules.

Beijing is also more picky about personal data: Monday, the regulator set a framework to define what mobile applications can or can no longer collect.

And since November, Alibaba seems particularly in the sights of Beijing.

Authorities first suspended a colossal $ 34 billion IPO from Ant Group, its online payments subsidiary.

The following month, the group founded by Jack Ma was the subject of an investigation into its business practices, deemed anti-competitive.

- "Too powerful" -

Weeks earlier, the eccentric billionaire had publicly accused regulators of hampering innovation in the online finance industry - apparently a crime of lese majesty to President Xi Jinping's power.

Ant Group owns Alipay, a hugely popular app that lets you pay for purchases over the phone or make reservations online, in a country where cash has virtually disappeared.

Ant has also prospered in bank lending, wealth management and insurance, benefiting from less stringent legislation than that which applies to traditional public banks.

In this sense, Alibaba had become "too powerful", like other players in the tech industry who are playing games with regulation, underlines the research firm Eurasia Group in a note.

Now, Beijing wants the tech giants to refocus on their core business or respect the same rules as traditional players.

To continue offering loans, Ant will have to comply with banking regulations, something the industry giants have avoided until now.

From now on, "the latter will have to create specific companies" for their banking activities, notes analyst Ke Yan, of the firm DZT Research specializing in investments.

"They will not be able to escape it," he said.

And this, at a time when Beijing is worried about the alarming indebtedness of the country, which poses a risk to the financial system.

- "Legitimate concerns" -

Communist power is also said to have asked Alibaba to withdraw from the media, worried about the influence of the group founded by Jack Ma, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

In the viewfinder in particular: the South China Morning Post (SCMP), a major English-language daily in Hong Kong, whose editorial line is sometimes critical of Beijing.

Tightening screws in tech is not, however, unique to China, nuance Jeffrey Towson, author of the Asia Tech Strategy newsletter.

In the United States, the giants Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon, accused of abuse of a dominant position, are also under threat of a toughening of legislation.

Simply, Beijing has opted for a "very Chinese" approach, notes Mr. Towson: "First, laissez-faire so as not to hamper innovation, then intervention" with a tightening of the regulatory framework.

Internet users are also increasingly sensitive to privacy issues as the use of facial recognition and other advanced technologies become commonplace in China.

"In China, everything is taken back to the Communist Party, but if the British government had done the same thing, no one would have found fault with it," said Towson.

Beijing has "legitimate concerns" because of the development of the sector, according to Mr. Towson, deeming these measures "reasonable".

© 2021 AFP