China’s tech crackdown: Antitrust body signals tighter enforcement in 2022 while promoting market development
- The State Administration for Market Regulation will strengthen supervision of the platform economy, said agency head Zhang Gong
- Authorities will also increase efforts to combat copyright infringement and counterfeiting
China’s top market regulator plans to tighten enforcement of antitrust and anti-unfair competition rules in 2022, the head of the agency said, signalling that the tech sector will continue to face government scrutiny after a year of forceful regulatory clampdown on the country’s Big Tech firms.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) will “strengthen supervision and law enforcement in key areas such as the platform economy, technological innovation, information security, and the protection of people’s livelihood”, Zhang Gong told the state-run Xinhua News Agency in an interview published Wednesday.
The SAMR aims to further improve the country’s market regulations and guidelines in the coming year after “a series of positive developments” in promoting fair competition in 2021, said Zhang.
However, the SAMR will focus on in-depth system reforms rather than just individual cases, while promoting the stable development of markets, Zhang added.
The agency will also intensify efforts to combat copyright infringement and counterfeiting to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of businesses and consumers, according to the article.
Zhang’s remarks come a year after the SAMR announced on Christmas Eve an antitrust probe into Alibaba Group Holding, which resulted in a record US$2.8 billion fine slapped on the e-commerce giant in April for monopolistic practices. In October, on-demand service provider Meituan was fined US$533 million for similar reasons.
