The AntiTrust Law in China
The technological and digital revolution of the 21st century has given rise to various tech industries. These are companies that have greater wealth than some states. Therefore they are important for the economy of their countries and for technological progress. These actors, although their fields are different, they hold a considerable amount of information about their clients/users.
Their power comes from different technological advances such as the progress of research on artificial intelligence, social media. Also, from different tools that allow them to calculate, store and analyze data. In the western countries, there are 5 companies that monopolize the tech market, they are the GAFAMs: Google Amazon Facebook Apple and Microsoft. These web giants are omnipresent in our daily lives through their digital solutions tools. However, during the last decades, a new group of tech superpowers emerged, the NATU: Netflix AirBnb Tesla and Uber.
In China, the equivalent of GAFAM are the BATX (Baidu Alibaba Tencent and Xiaomi) which have a huge impact on the Chinese tech market. Many laws have been created to regulate their impact in the world in order to limit their power. But also to allow a fair competitiveness with the new emerging companies.
We therefore have the case of the AntiTrust law. According to Investopedia, « Antitrust laws also referred to as competition laws, are statutes developed by the U.S. government to protect consumers from predatory business practices. They ensure that fair competition exists in an open-market economy. »
The AntiTrust law in China was regulated for :
the prevention and prohibition of monopolistic conduct,
the protection of market competition,
the protection of the interests of consumers and the general public.
China’s action with the AntiTrust law
This is particularly important for the process of continuously improving the socialist market economy system in China.
In November 2021, the Chinese government announced that it would attack the monopoly of the country’s digital giants.
On December 14, China had already imposed the first fines on Alibaba and China Literature, a subsidiary of Tencent.
According to the regulations put in place by the Chinese government, Alibaba and Tencent risk being fined 500,000 yuan, the equivalent of 70,000 euros. A derisory sum considering the wallet of these companies. This is a call to demonstrate that the Chinese government is determined to enforce this law.
Learn about GAFABAT in this article !