The two sessions will be discussed
In the past year, "antitrust" has been strongly out of the circle due to multiple high fines. Ali and Meituan's "two-choice one" case issued hundreds of millions of fines, and many giants were punished for illegal mergers and acquisitions.
Under the severe shock, how does the industry respond to the impact of regulation? What are the new trends to note? Recently, Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics of Tsinghua University, was a guest in the live broadcast room of the "Two Sessions" in Nandu and shared his views on the anti-monopoly of the platform economy.
According to Nandu reporters, since the end of 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation has disclosed a total of 105 anti-monopoly law enforcement cases in the field of platform economy, of which 3 are related to the abuse of market dominance by platforms to implement "two alternatives", and the rest are cases of undeported implementation of concentration of undertakings.
What changes has this wave of antitrust regulation brought to the industry? Wang Yong believes that the law enforcement agencies have investigated and punished Ali and meituan's "two choices one" behavior according to law, which has played a good warning role. During the 618 and Double 11 e-commerce promotions last year, the phenomenon of restricting merchants to "choose one of the two" has dropped significantly.
In addition, the investigation and handling of a large number of illegal mergers and acquisitions is also gradually rewriting the relevant rules of the Internet. Wang Yong observed that traffic capitalization began to turn into traffic commercialization, which is an important trend that has emerged since the anti-monopoly supervision of platforms last year.
In the past decade, domestic Internet giants have continuously extended their tentacles to multiple vertical fields through frequent mergers and acquisitions. In the giant expansion means, traffic resources play a role that cannot be ignored.
Wang Yong pointed out that whether it is e-commerce, social networking or short video, first of all, it is necessary to concentrate user attention and form traffic, and then a small number of giants that master traffic will capitalize traffic resources. For example, to provide better traffic entrance and recommendation bits, etc., to attract small and medium-sized enterprises to join their ecosystem. This flow logic plays an important role in strengthening the monopoly position of enterprises.
However, with the tightening of the "fence" of giant mergers and acquisitions and the gradual implementation of the interconnection policy, the capitalization of traffic has been restricted. "I think it's having a really good effect — it's helping to commercialize traffic." Wang Yong said.
Attention resources are critical for digital platform development. In order to compete for traffic, platforms usually adopt a variety of technical means, making the traffic market extremely competitive. Once the enterprise has mastered the traffic resources, on the one hand, it can monetize through advertising, and on the other hand, it can also expand its e-commerce business.
"There's a joke in the industry that the end of traffic is e-commerce." Wang Yong mentioned at the meeting that at first it was to search for e-commerce, and then there was a social 'slash', then short videos, live broadcasts, and the latest meta-universe technology.
With the development of technology, new players will continue to emerge in the market, impacting the monopoly position of the original platform enterprises. Wang Yong suggested that platform anti-monopoly supervision should fully consider the competitiveness of platforms and continuously encourage technological innovation to better promote the development of the platform economy.
In addition, the change in regulatory concept is also a key factor influencing the trend of anti-monopoly law enforcement. Nandu reporter noted that the 2021 Central Economic Work Conference again mentioned anti-monopoly, which also clearly stated that "it is necessary to boost the confidence of market players, further promote the implementation of fair competition policies, strengthen anti-monopoly and anti-unfair competition, and ensure fair competition with fair supervision."
Wang Yong reminded that attention should be paid to the mention of fair supervision. "We can find that the regulatory concept has engaged in post-relief and shifted to a greater focus on pre-event and in-process supervision. For example, by clarifying the additional responsibilities of the super platform, it is a manifestation of the emphasis on fair supervision. ”
Previously, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Guidelines for the Classification and Grading of Internet Platforms (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) and the Guidelines for the Implementation of The Responsibilities of Internet Platforms (Draft for Solicitation of Comments). The two guidelines intend to use factors such as user size, main business, and economic volume as measurement standards, and give different main responsibilities to different levels of Internet platforms.
Depending on the size of the platform, similar "two-or-one" behaviors have different impacts, and the regulatory scales that should be subject to them are different. Wang Yong believes that in this sense, through the hierarchical and classified management of the platform, the implementation of the concept of fair supervision and management, so that different enterprises can be treated more fairly, will help the healthy development of the platform economy and create a good business environment.
Written by: Nandu reporter Huang Huishi Li Ling