Nine departments jointly issued a document to regulate the platform economy, radiating a number of "difficult and complicated diseases" in the Internet industry

With the introduction of documents to guide and regulate the development of the platform economy, the platform economic supervision system is gradually being established.

On January 19, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the Cyberspace Administration of the Central Committee, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the Several Opinions on Promoting the Healthy and Sustainable Development of platform economy regulation (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions).

The Opinions list a number of detailed rules, including improving governance rules, improving institutional norms, promoting collaborative governance, improving competition supervision and law enforcement, strengthening supervision in the financial sector, exploring data and algorithm security supervision, improving regulatory technologies and means, reducing operating costs of platform economy participants, establishing an orderly and open platform ecology, strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of workers in new employment forms, supporting platforms to strengthen technological innovation, enhancing the level of global development, and encouraging platform enterprises to carry out model innovation.

In this regard, Pan Helin, member of the Information and Communication Economy Expert Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, told First Finance and Economics that the document clarifies the platform economic development path and development model in multiple dimensions. The platform economy has experienced barbaric development in the past decade or so, and there are many problems, which in turn affect the long-term sustainability of the platform economy, so through anti-monopoly, through data and information protection, and through the formulation of fair competition rules, it is conducive to the long-term healthy development of the platform and the economy. At the same time, standardized behavior will inevitably increase the operating costs of platform enterprises, but this is the only way for the Internet to get rid of the barbaric development path and move towards long-term healthy development.

In terms of strengthening supervision in the financial sector, the Opinions point out that it is necessary to strictly regulate the investment of platform enterprises in financial institutions and local financial organizations, and urge platform enterprises and their holding and shareholding financial institutions to strictly implement capital and leverage ratio requirements. At the same time, the "Opinions" indicate that the exclusive or "two-or- or" behavior in the payment process is governed according to law.

In this regard, Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry of Broadcom Consulting, said, "What needs special attention is to strictly regulate the investment of platform enterprises in financial institutions and local financial organizations, and urge platform enterprises and their holding and shareholding financial institutions to strictly implement capital and leverage ratio requirements." In the future, it is expected that the platform-related strategic investment will be restricted, and the leverage ratio of the platform holding small loans or consumer finance licenses will be strictly required, and the increase in capital is an inevitable option, and it is expected to increase cooperation with banks and other institutions to return to the essence of the lending platform. For the "two choice one" behavior in the payment, Wang Pengbo said that the two choice one behavior in the payment process is actually similar to the previous e-commerce two choice one, that is, the platform can only have one payment choice or default, and will not provide users or merchants with other choices, which is mandatory.

In terms of improving competition supervision and law enforcement, the Opinions put forward a number of measures, including: investigating and punishing monopolies and unfair competition in the platform economy in accordance with the law; and intensifying the crackdown on illegal operations of platform enterprises in the travel field.

On October 8, 2021, the State Administration for Market Regulation imposed an administrative penalty on Meituan's "two alternatives" monopoly behavior in accordance with the law. In this regard, Meituan said, "We sincerely accept and resolutely implement it." We will operate in accordance with the law and consciously maintain the order of fair competition. ”

In terms of transportation, in September 2021, the Ministry of Transport issued the Notice on Maintaining the Order of the Fair Competition Market and Accelerating the Compliance of Online Ride-hailing, and the regulatory authorities in many places also checked whether the online ride-hailing vehicles were operating in compliance from time to time, and notified and punished non-compliant platforms. According to Tianyan, since 2021, Didi Chuxing has faced a total of 1,733 administrative penalties, most of which are due to the illegal acts of driving taxis to provide operating services for people who have not obtained taxi driver licenses, with cumulative fines of more than 10 million.

In terms of reducing the operating costs of platform economy participants, the Opinions point out that platform enterprises should be guided to reasonably determine service fees such as payment and settlement, platform commissions, etc., and give certain traffic support to high-quality small and micro merchants.

This detail is closely related to the takeaway and online ride-hailing industries. In July last year, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other eight departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Safeguarding the Labor Protection Rights and Interests of Workers in New Employment Forms", further standardizing the employment relationship of the platform, and making clear requirements for safeguarding the labor remuneration, reasonable rest, social insurance, labor safety and other rights and interests of workers in new employment forms. Wang Xing, CEO of Meituan, said that after the government issued the relevant "Guiding Opinions" document on takeaway catering platforms, the company compared the guidance proposed in the document one by one, and self-examined and corrected article by article.

On November 30, 2021, the Ministry of Transport and eight other departments issued the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Employees in New Forms of Transportation, urging enterprises on the online reservation taxi (hereinafter referred to as online taxi) platforms to announce pricing rules and income distribution rules to drivers, passengers and other relevant parties.