China launches monopoly probe into Alibaba

China launched an investigation into the country’s biggest tech company, Alibaba, on Thursday for suspected monopolistic behavior. It’s the latest blow for company co-founder Jack Ma’s e-commerce and fintech empire and part of a wider, accelerating crackdown by Beijing on its booming tech industry. According to officials, China’s financial regulators will meet with both Alibaba and its affiliate Ant Group in the coming days to discuss an alleged practice that in China is called ‘choosing one from two.’ The practice requires merchants to sign exclusive cooperation pacts preventing them from offering products on rival platforms. The People’s Bank of China…