Tencent’s housing broker Beike is in regulators’ cross hairs as China’s antitrust investigations pick up pace, Reuters reports

China’s market regulator has begun an investigation into suspected anticompetitive practices by KE Holdings, the country’s biggest housing broker whose top backer is Tencent Holdings, two people who know of the matter said.

KE Holdings, which operates housing platforms Lianjia and Beike in China, was warned last month by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), along with dozens of internet companies, against any abuse of market dominance and told to conduct self-inspections.

SAMR has been formally investigating in recent weeks whether KE Holdings forces real estate developers to list housing information only on its platforms, including Lianjia and Beike, a tactic known as “choose one from two”, the people said, declining to be named because the information is not public. The report is “fake news,” Beike said in a one-sentence statement distributed through its WeChat social media account, without elaborating and without naming the media. Company spokespeople referred media inquiries to its WeChat statement.