All Media Reporter Han Dandong, Rule of Law Daily
On July 10, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued an announcement banning the merger of Huya and Douyu Company in accordance with the law. This is the first banned merger in the Internet field since the anti-monopoly law was implemented for more than ten years. As a result, anti-monopoly supervision ushered in the second wave of climax. Tencent responded in its latest statement today, saying, “It will earnestly abide by the review decision, actively cooperate with regulatory requirements, operate in compliance with laws and regulations, and earnestly fulfill its social responsibilities.”
Since the strengthening of anti-monopoly supervision in December last year, preventing the disorderly expansion of capital and cracking down on pinch mergers and acquisitions are important regulatory directions. Industry experts believe that this regulatory action is an early “stop” of mergers that have brought concentration of operators. It is the latest case of anti-monopoly law enforcement strengthening pre-regulation, highlighting the accuracy and diversity of regulation.
Li Sanxi, director of the Digital Economy Research Center of Renmin University of China, said that the country has always adopted an inclusive and prudent attitude in anti-monopoly supervision in the Internet field. The State Administration of Market Supervision has blocked “tiger fighting” mergers and acquisitions, and also warned Internet companies to pay more attention to anti-monopoly compliance. Maintain a fair and competitive market order.
“Pinch-point M&A” was rectified beforehand
On the eve of Double Eleven in 2020, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the “Guidelines for Anti-Monopoly in the Platform Economy” for soliciting opinions, setting the tone for this round of strong supervision in the platform economy. The current supervision through the administrative ban to stop the merger of Huya and Douyu is an advance “stop” for the concentration of operators in the market segments that may constitute.
From the perspective of the industry, this also shows that preventing the disorderly expansion of capital will be an important “outpost” for preventing unfair competition in anti-monopoly supervision.
“Prohibition of concentration” aims to prevent unfair competition that may be caused by the concentration of operators in advance. It is to implement more standardized management of the capital expansion of Internet companies, which is conducive to maintaining the order of market competition and protecting the development interests of more small and medium-sized companies.
In an interview with reporters, Li Sanxi pointed out: “In the past few decades, the country’s anti-monopoly supervision in the Internet field has always adopted an’inclusive and prudential’ attitude, which has spawned a group of Internet giants. The winner-takes-all characteristics of the Internet industry have led to the industry. The State Administration of Market Supervision blocked this merger after the Central Economic Work Conference in December last year emphasized anti-monopoly. As far as I know, it should be the Internet industry as a benchmark case in the anti-monopoly law regarding the entity review of the concentration of undertakings. The first merger and acquisition case that was censored. On the one hand, it reflects the fact that the regulatory agencies are earnestly implementing the spirit of the central government in accordance with the law. On the other hand, it also gives Internet companies a warning to change the past strategy of disorderly expansion of capital and pay more attention to anti-monopoly. Compliance and maintenance of fair competition in the market order.”
Extensive capital expansion has become an important development path for almost all Internet companies. It is true that the irregular investment behavior of the Internet needs to be corrected, and the development should be regulated within the regulatory vision and the boundaries should be cleared.
At the end of last year, the State Administration for Market Regulation reiterated the importance of compliance with investment behaviors, corrected historical violations, and issued batches of administrative penalty decisions for 4 consecutive times, involving more than 20 large enterprises of various types.
The rejection of the merger of Huya and Douyu this time also emphasized the importance of the declaration procedure for concentration of business operators in anti-monopoly supervision.
Avoid “one size fits all” and demonstrate regulatory flexibility
Since the anti-monopoly supervision has been intensified, many industry experts have expressed concern about the scale and strength of anti-monopoly supervision, and emphasized that supervision should balance the protection of enterprise innovation.
This time, the supervisory department replaced the “huge fines” with a pre-emptive and early warning “injunction”, which showed the “good intentions” of the supervisory authorities, which can be called scalpel-type precision supervision. This regulatory measure not only avoids the “one size fits all” type of accidental injury and the lag of heavy penalties after the event, it is an important manifestation of the improvement of my country’s anti-monopoly supervision and enforcement capabilities.
Compared with the strength of foreign anti-monopoly, my country’s anti-monopoly supervision is more careful to protect and guide.
“People’s Daily” once commented on anti-monopoly supervision: “Regulation is for better development, and’tugging sleeves’ is also a kind of care.” The Internet industry has developed rapidly for more than 20 years, and the status and role of the platform economy in the overall economic and social development has become increasingly prominent. From the perspective of the long-term and healthy development of the platform economy, regulation by law and support for development are not contradictory, but are complementary and mutually reinforcing.
2021 is the “big year” for anti-monopoly work. This round of anti-monopoly supervision has entered a normalization stage from error correction to prevention, and will guide a new round of healthy development of the Internet industry.
For Internet companies, in addition to awe of supervision and active self-examination, they should also change their simple and crude development thinking in due course. This time, through the administrative ban, the “beating” of Tencent has a strong warning and educational significance. It is of great significance and far-reaching impact on regulating investment and merger activities in the Internet industry and preventing the disorderly expansion of capital.Return to Sohu to see more
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