Prevent platform economy from becoming ‘slave’ of capital

President Xi Jinping, while presiding over a top-level economic meeting on Monday, outlined steps to strengthen supervision over the economy supported by internet platforms while underlining the need to address the sector’s problems to promote its sustainable and healthy development.

With the rapid development of the digital economy, people’s lives have become inseparable from internet platforms. The internet-based platform economy is becoming a new engine driving economic growth and promoting social development.

However, after capturing the market, some platforms have abandoned their due social responsibilities and they are trying to monopolize the sector by becoming “slaves” of capital. At this year’s World Consumer Rights Day evening gala telecast on Monday, China Central Television exposed many cases of business platforms violating consumers’ rights, including 360 Search and UC Browser using fake medical advertisements to influence user choices, mobile cleaning software alluring the elderly into a “fraud trap”, and some jobhunting platforms allowing paid downloading of jobseekers’ resumes.

If the platform economy is allowed to engage in such behavior, it will not only harm consumers’ rights and interests, but also inhibit enterprise innovation, increase market costs, and create systemic risks.

This year’s Government Work Report says the country supports the innovative development of platform companies and their efforts to enhance international competitiveness, but the government will ensure they develop in line with the law and improve digital rules. With the continuous expansion of the platform economy, the authorities should standardize its development and make sure it doesn’t deviate from the set goals.

Platform operators must resist the lure of short-term profits, and platform enterprises should refrain from using capital and scale advantages to become monopolies. They must recognize that the secret to success is not monopoly, but perpetual innovation and long-term value creation. If the interests of consumers and platform businesses are not protected, platform enterprises themselves will suffer.

The authorities should strengthen monitoring to prevent unfair competition caused by monopoly. They should also improve the laws and regulations related to the platform economy, fix the loopholes in rules, strengthen construction of the data property rights system, and increase the data security responsibility of platform enterprises.