Anti-Monopoly Regulation of Digital Platforms

Abstract

Characterized as they are by dynamic competition, cross-border operation, the network effect and oligopoly competition, digital platforms present a serious and complex monopoly problem, one that undermines competition, damages consumers’ interests, suppresses the vitality of innovation and hinders high-quality development. They should therefore be brought under stricter anti-monopoly regulation. The traditional regulatory cycle of “stricter regulation brings everything to a standstill; looser regulation brings chaos in its wake” is a chronic problem in China’s market regulation, so the anti-monopoly regulation of digital platforms needs to avoid this regulatory paradox. To address digital platforms’ two-sided markets, dynamic competition and disruptive innovation, we need to create appropriate new theories of anti-monopoly regulation by establishing the principle of positive, inclusive and prudent regulation based on the concept of modesty. In the current context, efforts to strengthen regulation do not lay undue emphasis on tighter regulation and heavier penalties, but rather focus on regulatory transformation and innovation, aiming thereby to effectively improve regulation. Good law is the premise of good governance. It is necessary to speed up the revision of the Anti-Monopoly Law to include provisions for improving digital competition rules in order to provide high-quality regulatory systems. Actively promoting efficient, inclusive and prudent regulation, fair and impartial regulation, collaborative and integrated regulation, incentive-based regulation, credit regulation and intelligent regulation on the basis of good law, along with technology-enabled regulation, is a good governance approach to realizing anti-monopoly platform regulations.