Chinese tech giant Tencent sacks 70 employees amid campaign against fraud

Companies like Tencent have been accused of being monopolistic and violating the rights of users.

Chinese gaming and social media giant Tencent sacked 70 employees in a campaign against fraud in 2021, CNBC reported on Tuesday. Tencent has also blacklisted 13 firms.

Tech giants in China are under increasing scrutiny from regulators. Companies like Tencent have been accused of being monopolistic  and violating the rights of users, Reuters reported. In 2020, China had fined Tencent and e-commerce company Alibaba for not properly reporting their past deals to anti-trust regulators.

Chinese experts are of the view that the country’s crackdown on its tech sector is an attempt to take control of big data, Bloomberg reported.

Amid the crackdown, Chinese companies have also intensified internal probes to check any activity that might attract action.

Tencent has been publishing the findings of internal investigations since 2019, CNBC reported. In its latest report, the tech giant identified cases of embezzlement and bribery and said it took action accordingly.

Tencent said it has reported some of the sacked employees to the authorities.

In November last year, Chinese authorities had ordered Tencent to have its new applications and updates inspected before upload. Some apps of the tech company had reportedly violated the rights of users.

China‘s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology had asked Tencent and other companies to correct their excessive personal information gathering.

After the development, Tencent had said: “We are continuously working to enhance user protection features within our apps, and also have regular cooperation with relevant government agencies to ensure regulatory compliance. Our apps remain functional and available for download.”

(With inputs from Reuters)