Fretting about unprecedented regulatory heat for China’s tech sector, some companies are no longer waiting for any official reprimands that may or may not be forthcoming, reported Reuters.
KE Holdings, China’s largest platform matching buyers and sellers of real estate, is one such example. This year it quietly shut down its VIP services that promised fast-turnarounds for property sellers in exchange for exclusive listings and which had featured prominently on its popular Lianjia and Beike apps, two Reuters sources familiar with the matter said.
“It wasn’t a big business but it had the potential to become one,” said one of the sources.
So-called ‘self-correction’ is promising to become a major corporate trend as the government tears into regulatory norms to promote socialist values and rein in what critics have called reckless capitalist expansion. The term is increasingly used by state media and is similar in tone to ‘self-criticism’ – a practice encouraged by China’s Communist Party, reported Reuters.