ByteDance, JD.com and Meituan were among the first tech companies to commit to antitrust compliance following the Alibaba incident.
Alibaba was fined $ 2.8 billion for alleged monopoly.
JD.com, Meituan and ByteDance lead China’s first group of Big Tech companies to commit to complying with the law after China Market Surveillance Agency (SAMR) asked them to “learn lessons” from Alibaba. Group Holding in Beijing’s latest antitrust investigation.
On April 14, 12 out of 34 tech companies released a public statement pledging to do business in compliance with the law after SAMR warned of Alibaba’s recent antitrust sanctions and conducted self-testing. next month.
Earlier, e-commerce giant Alibaba was fined a record $ 2.8 billion for forcing small businesses to sell exclusive products on the platform. Monopolistic behavior is understood as how businesses eliminate competition of competitors by forcing customers to choose “one of two”.
JD.com has made eight promises including “never taking measures to force sellers to choose either and never abusing a dominant market position or making any exclusive deals. “. The e-commerce group also said it will “never publish illegal advertisements and never sell products of substandard quality”.
Meituan’s delivery staff.
Meituan promised not to impose unreasonable measures forcing sellers to “choose one of the two” and would not abuse its market position to limit competition. In addition, the company is committed to providing full support to the Chinese regulatory authorities. “Once we find evidence of illegal conduct, we will report it to regulators in a timely manner and readily cooperate with any investigation,” Meituan said.
ByteDance, the owners of short video apps TikTok and Douyin, made 13 promises in its public statement. China’s most valuable unicorn company says it will “not illegally collect and misuse user data” and adhere to “minimum guidelines” in collecting data from users. E-commerce platform Pinduoduo said it will “proactively assume more social responsibility”, as well as comply with legal and regulatory requirements.
The rest of the companies are expected to announce their public commitment over the next two days
Beijing’s targeting of key Big Tech firms including Kuaishou, Bilibili and Didi Chuxing comes at a time when the Chinese government is resolutely using antitrust laws and other regulatory methods to halt. out-of-control expansion.
SAMR has accused major tech companies of misconduct such as forcing sellers to choose only one trading platform, abuse of market dominance, abuse of big data to unfair pricing. for certain customers, ignoring poor quality products, leaking customer data, and tax evasion.
“No one is allowed to cross the regulatory lines and not touch the legal red line,” SAMR said on Tuesday.
34 Internet service providers are on the spot, many of which are listed on US and Hong Kong exchanges. Companies were asked to “raise responsibility and give priority to the national interests”.
“Companies must absolutely avoid disordered capital expansion to ensure China’s economic and social security, you must absolutely avoid monopolies to ensure fair competition,” according to Beijing’s statement towards Internet service platforms.
SAMR says companies have one month to do a “self-check and self-repair”, after which the government will conduct follow-up and “severely punish” those companies that fail to address the misconduct.
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