(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd., a social media and gaming company with a global footprint, slid in US trading on Monday after the Defense Department said the tech firm was a Chinese military business operating in the US.

Shenzhen-based Tencent was among several companies that were labeled as Chinese military entities in a Federal Register filing. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. and Autel Robotics Co. were also included on the roster. Companies on the Chinese military list face delisting from US exchanges and deletion from global benchmark indexes.

In a statement, Tencent said its presence on the list was “clearly a mistake.”

“We are not a military company or supplier,” a company spokesperson said. “Unlike sanctions or export controls, this listing has no impact on our business. We will nonetheless work with the Department of Defense to address any misunderstanding.”

Tencent’s US depositary receipts were down as much as 7.3% at $49.31, notching the biggest intraday decline in nearly three months. Prosus NV, which owns about a quarter of Tencent, fell as much as 7.2% in US trading. 

The Chinese military company list stems from an order signed by then-President Donald Trump in late 2020 that barred American investment in Chinese firms owned or controlled by the military. It was part of a broader effort to rein in what the US had described as Beijing’s abusive business practices. 

Tencent is one of the most valuable tech companies in China and has already suffered from the country’s domestic consumption slowdown over the past year. The social media and entertainment leader has, however, fared better than rivals — in part because of its lineup of games and growth in its fintech division. Its Hong Kong-listed stock gained more than 42% last year.

Some Chinese firms have successfully fought to be removed from the US list. In 2021, the Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp. managed to reach an agreement with the US government that set aside its designation as a Chinese military company. Last year, Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. was removed, doing away with a label the firm had described as an “irrational” designation.

The Defense Department noted in the Federal Register filing that companies included on the list are entitled to request reconsideration. 

--With assistance from Yiqin Shen.

(Updates with Tencent response in third paragraph.)

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