Mainland China curbs Internet companies’ monopoly on new economic stocks, plug-in-Hong Kong Economic Journal



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On the eve of the “Double 11” shopping festival on the continent, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Anti-Monopoly Guidelines on the Platform Economy (draft for comment)” (hereinafter referred to as “Anti-Monopoly Guidelines -monopoly”). The main purpose is to prevent and stop the platform economy. Monopoly behaviors guide platform economy operators to operate in compliance with laws and regulations and promote sustainable and healthy development of the online economy. Following the automotive industry and the API industry, this time the Chinese government has launched antitrust guidelines for key areas, meaning internet platforms will face tighter oversight.

The market value of 5 leading companies including Meituan is reduced by 910 billion

There has been a major breakthrough in research and development for the new corona vaccine in the United States, and new economic actions have fallen out of favor. Coupled with the double hit of the “Anti-Monopoly Guide” news, a large number of Internet giants plunged in share prices yesterday. Tencent (00700) decreased by 4.4%; Meituan (03690)) It fell by 10.5%; JD.com (09618) plunged 8.8%; Alibaba (09988) fell by 5.1% and the US-listed Pinduoduo also fell by 9%; a total of 5 shares lost more than 910 billion yuan in one day market value.

The “Anti-Monopoly Guide” takes the aspects of monopoly agreement, abuse of market dominance, concentration of operators, abuse of the administrative power of exclusion and restriction of competition as the entry point. The monopoly in the economic field of the online platform refers to the abuse of platform operators and operators within the platform The dominant position on the market, and no justifiable reason is to impose a differentiated treatment on transactions with the same trading conditions and eliminate or limit competition on the market. Horizontal monopoly agreements in the platform economy usually have the effect of severely eliminating and restricting competition. The Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency encourages interested economic operators to take the initiative to report the situation of the horizontal monopoly agreement and provide important evidence, while at the same time putting an end to suspected violations and cooperating with investigations.

Furthermore, the “Anti-Monopoly Guide” specifically mentions the “choice of two” and “big data” which have been criticized by users and which can be considered monopoly. The first refers to the e-commerce platform putting pressure on manufacturers not to sell on other platforms. The second refers to the e-commerce platform that uses big data and algorithms to implement differential transaction prices for new and old customers. Similar cases and controversies are endless on the continent.

The concentration of controlled enterprises by arrangement (VIE) also falls under the anti-monopoly review. If businesses meet the reporting standards set by the State Council, they must report in advance to the anti-monopoly State Council law enforcement agency. Liu Xu, a part-time researcher at Tongji University’s School of Law Intellectual Property and Competition Law Research Center, said this means that internet companies should report in accordance with the law. If the concentration of economic operators has not been declared, it will be reissued. This could affect a large number of cases, such as Douyu and Huya. Mergers, a large number of mergers and acquisitions by Internet giants such as Tencent and Ali.

Prior to the publication of the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines on Friday, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Central Cyberspace Administration of China and the State Tax Administration jointly convened an administrative orientation meeting on the regulation of ‘online economic order. 27 major Internet platforms including JD.com, Meituan, Ali and Tencent Companies are participating. At the meeting, he sternly criticized the issue of forcing traders to “choose each other” and to review orders and revisions, and put forward 9 clear requirements on internet platforms to not abuse their market dominance .

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