Alibaba, Meituan paid the bulk of China’s US$3 billion antitrust fines in 2021, report shows
- The State Administration for Market Regulation collected 23.6 billion yuan (US$3.53 billion) in fines in 2021, about 52 times the 450 million yuan received in 2020
- Authorities say they have achieved “important results” in disciplining monopolistic behaviours and will now focus on restoring market confidence
Authorities collected 23.6 billion yuan (US$3.53 billion) in antitrust fines in 2021, about 52 times the 450 million yuan received in 2020, according to the report.
The watchdog said it closed 175 cases last year, a jump of 61.5 per cent from a year earlier, when the antitrust bureau was still an internal department within the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).
The antitrust investigations on China’s Big Tech firms and their corresponding fines formed a major part of Beijing’s regulatory crackdown that was meant to curb the “irrational expansion of capital” in the tech sector.
Other Chinese tech giants, including social media and video gaming company Tencent Holdings, TikTok owner ByteDance and ride-hailing firm Didi Global, were also fined in the same year for failing to report their merger and acquisition deals for antitrust reviews. Some of those deals were completed before the antitrust bureau’s formation within the SAMR.
The State Anti-Monopoly Bureau said on Tuesday it had achieved “important results” in disciplining monopolistic behaviours and would now focus on restoring market confidence, in a fresh signal that the intense clampdown on the tech sector is largely over.
“The anti-monopoly regulation of the platform economy sends a strong signal that the internet is not a place outside the law. The rules strongly promote the standardised, orderly, sustainable and healthy development of the platform economy,” the bureau said.
The State Anti-Monopoly Bureau said it would uphold regulations in some areas, without elaborating on which areas they would be.
On Tuesday, the SAMR also released new guidance regarding “online promotion events” during the June 18 midyear shopping festival, which is taking place on popular e-commerce sites such as JD.com and Alibaba’s Taobao. Authorities said they would keep their eye on platforms and merchants to root out problematic products and unlawful advertisements.