The boots of the much-publicized Alibaba Group suspected monopoly case have landed. The State Administration for Market Regulation recently issued an administrative penalty decision, ordering Alibaba Group to stop its illegal acts and pay a fine of 18.228 billion yuan. Alibaba Group immediately issued an announcement, expressing sincere acceptance and resolute obedience.
This case set a record for the amount of anti-monopoly fines in China, and because the punishment was a "big Mac" platform enterprise with hundreds of millions of users, the public opinion field immediately opened a "feast" of views, mainstream media, experts and scholars, Internet celebrities, and private entrepreneurs all entered, and all kinds of analysis, interpretation, assertion, and speculation came pouring in.
In fact, this investigation and punishment is just a normal game between the regulator and the regulated, the "invisible hand" and the "visible hand", and it is a very ordinary wave in the tide of platform economic development. Not to mention that the fine is only equivalent to a net profit for ali for more than a month, and only in terms of the anti-monopoly investigation of platform enterprises, this is neither unique to China nor the only time. This is a specific measure for the state regulatory department to implement the fundamental requirements of the "people first" concept and maintain market order, and it is an effective norm for the illegal and irregular behavior of platform enterprises, which is conducive to promoting the continuous innovation and healthy development of platform enterprises, to creating a better governance system and a fair competitive environment for the platform economy, to creating a civilized, friendly and mutually respectful business culture, and to continuously playing an important role in China's economic and social development.
The platform economy is an innovative economic form based on the Internet platform, and a new production mode spawned by a new round of technological revolution. In this round of market innovation tide, China is at the forefront of the world and has been widely appreciated by all parties. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2020, China's Internet and related service enterprises above designated size completed business revenue of 1,283.8 billion yuan, an increase of 12.5% year-on-year. On the whole, the development trend of China's platform economy is good and the role is positive. However, as with all new things, the development of the platform economy has also emerged some outstanding problems that need to be solved urgently, such as forcing "two choices one", "big data killing", "self-preferential treatment", "strangulation and mergers and acquisitions" and other behaviors, which not only exclude competition, damage fairness, and ultimately damage the interests of consumers, but also damage the market environment of the platform economy, which has become a major obstacle to the high-quality development of the platform economy.
In order to regulate the development of the platform economy, the Politburo meeting held on December 11 last year first proposed to "strengthen anti-monopoly and prevent the disorderly expansion of capital", for this reason, the Central Economic Work Conference listed it in the eight key tasks in 2021. On February 7 this year, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines of the Anti-Monopoly Committee of the State Council on the Platform Economy, which officially kicked off the prelude to anti-monopoly in the platform economy. On March 15, the ninth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission studied issues such as promoting the healthy development of the platform economy. At the meeting, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the development of China's platform economy is in a critical period, and it is necessary to focus on the long term and take into account the present, make up for shortcomings, strengthen weaknesses, create an innovative environment, solve prominent contradictions and problems, and promote the healthy and sustainable development of platform economy norms. This provides a fundamental guideline for antitrust in the field of platform economy.
We must understand the anti-monopoly work in the field of platform economy from a political perspective. The rapid development of the platform economy benefits from the rapid development of China's economy, the progress of Internet technology, and the support and tolerance of the regulatory authorities for innovation, and at the same time, it is precisely under the joint efforts of a large number of outstanding platform enterprises with private enterprises as the main body that China has become one of the leading countries in the development of the digital economy in the world. Therefore, we must adhere to the correct political direction, from the height of strengthening the economic and social governance of the party and the state, from the height of building new advantages in national competition, from the perspective of establishing and improving the governance system of the platform economy, and understand the anti-monopoly work in the field of platform economy. Socialism with Chinese characteristics has incomparable advantages of other social systems, and we must not only make the market play a decisive role in the allocation of resources, but also better play the role of the government when the market fails, only in this way can we ensure that China's economic and social development is always running on the right track.
We must understand the anti-monopoly work in the field of platform economy from a legal perspective. It must be made clear that all market entities, whether domestic or foreign-funded, state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, large enterprises or small and micro enterprises, are equal before the law on the road of building a socialist country ruled by law, and whoever violates the law will be punished, and there is no extralegal place for anti-monopoly. The local rules of the platform must comply with the relevant laws and regulations of the state, and the economic behavior of the platform must not violate the corresponding institutional arrangements. Although the platform economy is a new thing, some laws and regulations based on the traditional economic form are not fully adapted to the reality of the platform economy, and it is necessary to improve the corresponding rules and systems, but the basic spirit of the rule of law and the general rules of the market must be followed, and the public order and good customs of society must be observed. Moreover, we have seen that in the process of punishing Alibaba this time, whether it is the determination of illegal acts or the determination of the amount of fines, it reflects the basic requirements of governing the country according to law, has a basis in the law, should be reasonable, and reflects the prudent, scientific and rigorous law enforcement methods of relevant departments, marking that anti-monopoly law enforcement in the field of China's platform economy has entered a new stage.
We must understand the anti-monopoly work in the field of platform economy from the perspective of maintaining the order of the socialist market economy. The platform economy is the product of the market economy and the product of innovation, and the platform enterprise should follow the laws of the market and continue to lead and promote innovation, rather than hindering and ending innovation. Monopolistic behavior that abuses its dominant market position eliminates and restricts relevant market competition, infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of merchants on the platform, hinders the innovative development of the platform economy and the free flow of production factors, and harms the rights and interests of consumers. Therefore, only anti-monopoly can maintain an open and inclusive development environment, promote platform enterprises to maintain innovation genes and innovation momentum, strengthen key core technology research, business model innovation and better meet customer needs, so that more competitive platform enterprises can stand out and obtain opportunities for continuous development.
The healthy and sustainable development of the platform economy is inseparable from a good business culture and the compliance, self-discipline and social responsibility of platform enterprises. All kinds of platform enterprises should consciously change their concepts, actively create a business culture that emphasizes righteousness, business ethics, and friendliness, fully considers the ethical responsibility and social responsibility of the platform, and assumes due supervision and management responsibility for the trading behavior within the platform; implement the regulatory requirements into the enterprise development strategy and operation management, take the initiative to carry out the construction of the compliance management system of the platform enterprise, strengthen the concept of enterprise self-discipline and legal compliance management, and the large head platform should make good use of scale effects and scientific and technological advantages to curb the impulse to excessively chase profits. Take the lead in maintaining a market environment of fair competition; strengthen user awareness, service awareness, and consciously accept social supervision. Only in this way can a good legal environment and business environment be continuously maintained, and the private economy can fully gush with the source of innovation and create vitality in the era of digital economy.
(Author: Li Shulin, Chen Xuegen)