Say goodbye to disorderly competition, and the development of platform economy must tightly abide by the bottom line of the law
【Dharma Eye View】
In recent years, my country’s platform economy has developed rapidly, and its status and role in the overall economic and social development have become increasingly prominent. At the same time, it has also brought about many problems: the disorderly expansion of capital, monopoly and unfair competition have become increasingly prominent, especially some large-scale Internet Based on the advantages of data and technology, platform companies have rapidly grown into platform giants, repelling and restricting market competition, forming a "winner takes all" effect, and affecting the market order of fair competition in the platform economy.
In order to regulate the healthy and orderly development of the platform economy, the relevant departments have recently made hard and practical moves frequently.
Since the beginning of this year, the "Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly in the Field of Platform Economy", "Provisions on the Prohibition of Unfair Competition on the Internet (Draft for Comment)" and "Interpretations on the Application of the Anti-Unfair Competition Law of the People's Republic of China" (Draft for Comment) Released one after another; On October 19, the draft amendment to the Anti-Monopoly Law was submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for initial deliberation; On November 18, the State Anti-Monopoly Bureau was officially listed, becoming a milestone event in my country’s regulation of market competition... The continuous improvement of mechanism construction provides a strong guarantee for my country to further regulate the behavior of Internet platforms and promote the orderly development of the platform economy.
Break down the barriers between Internet platforms
When I see a good-looking product when shopping online, I forward its link to a chat friend, but it is a bunch of garbled passwords; I see an interesting video on the short video platform, but I need to download and save it first when sharing it to the circle of friends...Online shopping platform, short video platform , The mutual shielding of social platforms has almost become the norm, and users have become the "private place" for the platform to realize their own economic benefits, and they can only choose to passively accept.
"The Internet, as the name suggests, is interconnection, open platforms, and information sharing. Users can obtain the information they need through the Internet and enjoy more convenient services. This is also the original intention of the Internet." Chen Yinjiang said that at present, some Internet platforms, especially super-large platforms, rely on the advantages of user scale, data, technology, etc., to have an increasing influence on the economy and society. In order to fix platform users, improperly set up barriers between platforms and refuse to Other platforms are open.
At the press conference of the State Council Information Office on September 13, Zhao Zhiguo, spokesperson for the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Information and Communications Administration Bureau, said that ensuring normal access to legitimate web links is a basic requirement for the development of the Internet.
Chen Yinjiang believes that the self-management rights enjoyed by Internet platforms should be based on not disrupting the fair competition order of the market and not harming the legitimate rights and interests of consumers. Especially when a platform has a dominant position in the relevant market, its operation is even more important. Take care to avoid abuse of dominant position.
my country’s Anti-Unfair Competition Law lists “maliciously implementing incompatibility with network products or services legally provided by other operators” as one of the production and business activities forbidden by operators.
However, it still needs to be further refined and clarified when it is applied to specific cases.
In August of this year, the "Regulations on Prohibition of Unfair Competition on the Internet (Draft for Public Comment)" issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation clearly stipulated that operators must not use technical means to block network products or services legally provided by other operators, etc. behavior.
Chen Yinjiang believes that with the continuous refinement and improvement of relevant laws and regulations such as the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the continuous strengthening of law enforcement, the barriers between Internet platforms will eventually be broken, regardless of users and consumers’ feelings and harm to consumers’ interests. The phenomenon of "enclosure is king" will eventually disappear.
"Strong alliances" must beware of the formation of monopoly
On July 10, the first case of banning the concentration of operators in the platform economy-the merger of Huya Douyu was suspended.
After review, it was determined that Huya and Douyu had a combined market share of more than 70% in the downstream game live broadcast market.
This concentration is prohibited because it may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition.
On November 20, the State Administration of Market Supervision made administrative punishment decisions on 43 cases of undeclared illegal implementation of the concentration of undertakings in accordance with the law, and imposed a fine of 500,000 yuan on the companies involved.
Under relatively sufficient market competition, both enterprises and consumers are beneficiaries. Enterprises can reduce the cost of goods and services through technological innovation to form their own competitive advantages, and consumers can enjoy better goods and services at a lower price.
However, in the process of economic development, certain enterprises achieve "dominance of one family" through the concentration of operators, which may eliminate and restrict competition, which may have adverse effects.
"Actually, concentration of operators is a neutral concept, which mainly refers to mergers and acquisitions between enterprises, equity acquisitions, etc." Xue Jun, a professor at the Law School of Peking University, believes that from the essence of law, concentration of operators is a market under the conditions of a market economy. The subject’s free contract behavior can optimize resource allocation and improve resource utilization efficiency.
However, once an enterprise takes a dominant position in the market through the concentration of operators and pursues the effect of “strong alliance”, and even eliminates and restricts market competition, it may be suspected of monopoly.
To judge whether a concentration of undertakings is legal, it is necessary to judge whether the concentration has the effect of eliminating and restricting market competition.
my country’s Anti-Monopoly Law has established a reporting and review system. If the concentration of undertakings meets the reporting standards, they have the statutory obligation to report to the Anti-monopoly Law Enforcement Agency of the State Council in advance, and the concentration cannot be implemented if they fail to declare.
“The State Council’s Anti-Monopoly Law Enforcement Agency reviews the declaration to determine whether it has the effect of eliminating or restricting market competition.” Xue Jun said that analyzing, evaluating, and judging whether the declared content may lead to the effect of eliminating or restricting market competition is a highly technical, The issue of specialization requires comprehensive consideration of economic and technological development, market competition pattern, and consumer rights protection, etc. This requires more specific and detailed legal system arrangements, as well as more professional talent support. This is also what we should strive for in the future. direction.
Be wary of traffic being "hijacked"
A few days ago, Beijing Haidian Court pronounced on a browser plug-in hijacking case.
The court found that Shanghai Zhengkai Technology Information Company's hijacking of traffic constituted unfair competition and ruled that the company compensated the plaintiff Baidu Company for 830,000 yuan.
The phenomenon of traffic hijacking is not new.
In the daily surfing process, netizens often encounter situations where they jump to unfamiliar webpages without warning when browsing and clicking on webpages. For example, jumping to webpages such as live broadcasts, games, and advertisements is very annoying.
Using various malicious software and Trojan horses to modify the browser, lock the homepage or constantly pop up new windows, etc., to force users to visit certain websites, resulting in loss of user traffic, which is a consistent method of traffic hijacking.
"From the perspective of profitability, traffic hijacking can be divided into drainage type, display type, and replacement type, such as forced bundling, embedded advertising, spam site push, etc., which are closely related to netizens." Beijing Pushengda Law Firm The lawyer Zhang Xiaona said that the infringing party forcibly added its own content by inserting links and other methods, resulting in reduced traffic on the other party's website and reduced potential transaction opportunities, causing it to suffer economic losses; it also caused misunderstandings for users and hindered their right to know and choose.
The economic value involved in traffic hijacking is usually not a small amount, but it is difficult to calculate the actual loss, the cost of rights protection is high, and the relevant laws and regulations are insufficient to deter such behavior.
Zhang Xiaona said that although "using technical means to carry out traffic hijacking" and "using technical means to interfere with competitors' products or services" have been classified as unfair competition behaviors in the Internet field to be regulated, it is still necessary to further clarify the various rules in the application. Technical and detailed issues, increase penalties for violations, and increase the cost of violations.
"A sound system of laws and regulations is the basis for effective promotion of the comprehensive governance of the platform economy." Zhang Xiaona said that with the continuous improvement of my country's relevant rules regulating the development of the Internet economy, relevant departments are increasingly fighting against illegal activities in the Internet field. Unfair competition and monopolistic activities on platforms will be effectively curbed, providing a strong legal guarantee for the healthy and stable development of the platform economy.
(Our reporter Wang Jinhu)