Law draws boundaries for profit-seeking capital

The State Administration for Market Regulation published the administrative penalties given to 13 enterprises violating the Anti-Monopoly Law on Wednesday.

This is another heavy blow the market regulatory department has dealt to these internet giants, which include Alibaba and Tencent, as the investigations show all of them broke the 21st article of the AntiMonopoly Law, as their behaviors have constituted a failure to declare the concentration of their business operations as the law requires.

According to the self-evaluation of the enterprises, their actions did not eliminate or restrict competition, which was not true the investigation by the State Administration for Market Regulation found.

With the progress of information technology, the internet platform enterprises, thanks to the injection of huge amounts of capitals, are developing rapidly.

That has promoted social and economic development, created a large number of jobs and injected vitality into the economy. But that cannot justify disregarding the law.

Everyone is equal before the law. The law is valid to traditional market entities as well as emerging market players. That the large internet companies play an important role in the national economy does not mean the law can be bent for them.

Monopoly stifles innovation. Big platform enterprises tend to use their advantageous position to suppress latecomers, which is beneficial to their own development in the long run, but has a negative effect on the overall social development as well.

For this reason, all countries maintain a high degree of vigilance toward monopolistic behaviors. The positive effects of capital need to be amplified and protected, while its greed must be controlled by the law.

China is setting rules and drawing boundaries for capital through the ongoing antitrust investigations.

Frankly speaking, the country’s regulation of the internet market and industries has lagged behind the needs of the situation over a long period of time, which led to the accumulation of risks and hidden dangers.

Now, relevant normative policies are being introduced to control the negative role of capital from the perspective of avoiding social risks, rather than blindly curbing the development of capital factors. The purpose is not to restrict capital or suppress internet capital, but to vigorously encourage, support and guide the healthy development of the internet market and industry.