Alibaba, Tencent, Baidu levied by China's competition watchdog

ongoing crackdown on monopolies.

The firms must pay 500,000 yuan ($78,000) for each of the 43 antitrust violations, the State Administration for Market Regulation said in a statement on Saturday.

President Xi Jinping declared his intention in March to go after “platform” companies that amass data to create monopolies and Beijing has been increasing antitrust oversight over China’s sprawling private sector, especially in the digital realm.

Alibaba was slapped with a $2.8 billion levy earlier this year for abusing its market dominance, while food-delivery leader Meituan was fined $533 million last month for violating anti-monopoly regulations.