Recently, an anti-monopoly guide for platform companies came out, and platform companies that have received much attention will be restricted from "mutual restriction", requiring merchants to "choose one of two" and "big data".
On November 10, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guidelines for Anti-Monopoly in the Field of Platform Economy (Draft for Comment)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Anti-Monopoly Guidelines"). Consumers use big data to "kill familiarity" and other Internet platform companies' chaos, and platform companies' use of rules, algorithms, technology, traffic distribution and other unjustified refusal to conduct transactions will also be regarded as "monopolistic behavior." What impact will
platform-based enterprises suffer?
Internet technology companies are the first to be hit.
Hong Kong-listed technology stocks plummeted on the 10th (Tuesday), and the Hang Seng Technology Index once fell nearly 7%. Among them, Meituan once plunged more than 13%, and closed down 10.5%; Jingdong closed down 8.8%; Alibaba closed down 5%; Tencent fell more than 4%.
The platform in the "Antitrust Guidelines" refers to the Internet platform, and the platform economy refers to an economic form in which the Internet platform coordinates the organization of resource allocation. Why is it necessary to issue an "Anti-Monopoly Guide" for the platform economy based on the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China"? What impact will it bring to platform companies?
Shanghai Dabang Law Firm senior partner and lawyer You Yunting believes that the basic background of the "Anti-Monopoly Guide" is the booming Internet economy. At present, several giants rely on platform advantages to monopolize almost all markets. The implementation threshold of the "Anti-Monopoly Law" is relatively high. If companies rely on the self-relief of the damaged interests, there will be problems such as high legal costs, difficulty in producing evidence, and long time for rights protection. The current administrative regulations also have insufficient regulations for the enforcement of administrative agencies. , The problem of insufficient efficiency, such a guidance document clarified some of the legal and procedural issues that had been disputed before. Liu Chunquan, a lawyer at the Shanghai Duan and Duan Law Firm, believes that the "Anti-Monopoly Guide" is actually the result of years of research, and it also addresses the objective reality of the current domestic Internet industry monopoly hindering innovation.
"There is no grass growing under the big tree. In recent years, the reason why there have been no large-scale innovative platform companies in China is that whenever a new wave of entrepreneurial opportunities appears, monopoly giants will stand in line and use funds to suppress newly emerging companies. , The new enterprise was eventually eliminated or acquired by the giants." Liu Chunquan told the CBN reporter. The types of
platform-based enterprises include communication platforms, e-commerce platforms, entertainment platforms, and financial platforms. In the current China, various platforms are controlled by major Internet giants. Once the Anti-Monopoly Guidelines are implemented, they will bring the original Changes in the competitive landscape. With the implementation of the
guide, for these platforms, the barriers to mutual penetration will disappear, and the difficulty of entering the other's platform will be reduced. In the short term, as competitors enter their own platforms, it will have a small impact on their own businesses. However, considering that the current Internet competition pattern has stabilized, the impact will not be great. However, the game between the platform and the companies on the platform will help the companies operating on the platform to obtain a fairer competitive position.” You Yunting said . The
platform relies on its huge platform advantages, traffic advantages, etc., and often has a great say in the companies that settle on the platform. There has been a storm of "choosing one of the two" by JD and Taobao in the past.
In this regard, the "Anti-Monopoly Guidelines" clearly stated for the first time that requiring transaction counterparties to conduct "choose one" or other behaviors with the same effect between competitive platforms will be deemed to be an abuse of market dominance and constitute restricted transactions. The
"Anti-Monopoly Guidelines" further pointed out that there are two situations for analyzing whether a restricted transaction is constituted: one is the restriction imposed by platform operators through punitive measures such as search power reduction, traffic restriction, technical obstacles, and deduction of margin, because it will directly Damage to market competition and consumer interests can generally be deemed to constitute restricted transactions.
In addition, the "Anti-Monopoly Guidelines" pointed out that the restrictions imposed by platform operators through incentives such as subsidies, discounts, concessions, traffic resource support, etc., may have certain positive effects on the interests of operators and consumers on the platform and the overall welfare of society. However, if it has obvious exclusion or restriction on market competition, it may also be deemed to constitute a restricted transaction.
You Yunting believes that the "choice of two" questionsQuestion, the "Antitrust Guidelines" gives a strong signal, which is of positive significance for breaking the barriers between platforms and promoting the establishment of a new pattern of openness and mutual benefit.
"For choosing one of the two, for platforms that set barriers that do not show the content of competitors, the introduction of antitrust guidelines will help remove barriers. Of course, as a platform operator, he will definitely find ways to remove explicit barriers while setting up hidden barriers. Sexual barriers, so it may take a longer period of game to be able to completely break through the barriers of the platform." You Yunting said. The
"Anti-Monopoly Guide" also focuses on whether the platform has refused to trade. The standard for determining the refusal of transactions is to "set up obstacles in platform rules, algorithms, technology, traffic distribution, etc., making it difficult for the counterparty to conduct transactions." It can be inferred from this that the restrictions or prohibition of sharing of links to some competing platforms or applications such as Taobao and Douyin on WeChat may be deemed by the regulatory authorities as refusal to trade.
"On the whole, domestic platform-based enterprises generally have problems of mutual establishment of'barriers' and insufficient openness. For platforms with dominant market positions, this prohibition or restrictive practice can be abused. It is suspected of violating the spirit of the monopoly law and causing many adverse effects on the fair competition order of the market." said Li Junhui, a special researcher at the Intellectual Property Research Center of China University of Political Science and Law.
Stimulate the vitality of entrepreneurs
One of the principles put forward in the "Antitrust Guidelines" is to stimulate innovation and creativity, maintain fair competition in the platform economy, and guide and encourage platform operators to use more resources for technological innovation, quality improvement, and service improvement. Model innovation and build new advantages and new momentum for economic and social development.
Innovation in economic operations often comes from small businesses. An important role of the "Anti-Monopoly Guidelines" is to promote the innovation and development of technology-based enterprises.
"The fundamental purpose of anti-monopoly is to promote fair competition in the market. After the giants form a dominant market position, the innovative capabilities of small and medium-sized enterprises will be suppressed or even plagiarized. This has a negative impact on stimulating innovation and protecting innovation. Therefore, intensify anti-trust The intensity of monopoly law enforcement will help further stimulate market vitality." Li Junhui told the CBN reporter.
Liu Chunquan believes that 1997-2007 is the golden decade of China’s Internet development, because this period is a very typical period of free competition. There are no monopolists in the market and market players have fully released their vitality. Therefore, Chinese Internet companies have gained a lot of With good opportunities and space for entrepreneurship, a number of leading Internet companies have emerged during this period, but the monopoly of large companies has actually hindered innovation in recent years.
"The goal of the "Competition Law" is to encourage sufficient competition in the market. Only when there is sufficient competition in the market and there are no barriers, will market entities continue to develop, new products and services will come out, and consumers can Get the greatest benefit. So the Competition Law protects competition, not competitors." Liu Chunquan explained.
You Yunting also believes that the current market situation is that platform monopoly enables large companies to use the advantages of platforms to develop new businesses and is very handy when squeezing the space of SMEs. The promulgation of the "
" guide will help promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and prevent large enterprises from abusing their dominant market position. Considering that small and medium-sized enterprises are a manifestation of economic vitality, the prosperity of small and medium-sized enterprises is bound to promote economic development and the revitalization of the Internet economy. It has a very positive effect." You Yunting said.
For consumers, they often encounter the phenomenon of “big data kills familiarity” when shopping online on the platform, that is, for the same product, the price that big data pushes to different consumers is different, and it is often the old users who have different prices. Sensitive users are more expensive, and the "Antitrust Guidelines" also makes clear provisions.
"Anti-Monopoly Guidelines" clearly stated that operators in the field of platform economy with a dominant market position have no justifiable reason to deal with counterparties with the same trading conditions, based on big data and algorithms, and based on the counterparty's ability to pay, consumption preferences, and usage habits The implementation of differential transaction prices or other transaction conditions, or the implementation of differential transaction prices or other transaction conditions for new and old transaction counterparts, is the implementation of differential treatment, which excludes or restricts market competition. The
"Antitrust Guidelines" also clearly pointed out that, on the consumer side, in addition to credit status, other differences such as transaction history, individual preferences, consumption habits, etc. shall not be used as an excuse for the platform to implement differential pricing.
"It was difficult for consumers to prove that they were familiar with big data before, but now they are familiar with big dataWill become an anti-monopoly law enforcement agency, an important consideration when enforcing the platform. For the platform, the profit involved in big data is obviously much smaller than the law enforcement interest of the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency, so the introduction of the guide will definitely To a certain extent, curb the phenomenon of big data. Of course, due to the fairness of the competitive environment and the regulation of behaviors that damage consumer rights such as big data, the platform's monopoly profit may decline. "You Yunting said.
