Review № 19 of Chinese Antitrust News from the Experts of the BRICS Competition Centre
- Algorithm regulation campaign launched
- SAMR meets with Italy China Council Foundation
- Chinese car dealers pledge to comply with antitrust laws
- ByteDance demands $1.1 million from former intern
- Chinese and Brazilian agricultural regulators agree to cooperate
- Interdepartmental mechanism for energy sector regulation created
- SAMR visits UK, Italy and UAE
Algorithm regulation campaign launched
From November 2024 to February 14, 2025, the Cyberspace Administration of China, together with other relevant departments, launched a campaign to regulate the use of algorithms on Internet platforms. As part of the campaign, the department will focus on the following tasks:
- ─ eliminating "information bubbles", combating excessive encouragement of purchasing activity (up to the formation of addiction);
- ─ increasing the transparency of the search results procedure, combating relevant manipulations;
- ─ eliminating violations of the rights of platform workers (couriers, drivers, etc.) for the sake of the "blind pursuit" of profit by platforms;
- ─ preventing the use of algorithms to differentiate prices for the same goods based on the personal characteristics of users;
- ─ improving the quality of algorithms to protect the interests of users;
- ─ enhanced verification of the security of algorithms.
The goal of the campaign is to achieve fairness and transparency, openness and impartiality, autonomy and controllability of algorithms. The following work schedule has been established:
- from now until 31.12.2024 – platforms conduct self-checks and independently eliminate existing violations;
- from 01.01.2025 until 31.01.2025 – competent agencies get acquainted with the results of self-checks and give their recommendations;
- until 14.02.2025 – competent agencies evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of policies related to algorithms and propose new practical initiatives;
- during the entire campaign, dedicated channels for receiving requests from Internet users will be in operation.
Source: Weixin
SAMR meets with Italy China Council Foundation
Deputy Director of SAMR Pu Chun met with Secretary General of Italy China Council Foundation Marco Bettin. Pu Chun introduced China's enterprise credit supervision system in detail. He said that China will further strengthen its efforts to create a transparent and predictable business environment, and provide comfortable conditions for enterprises from all over the world, including Italy, to invest in China. He hoped that Italy China Council Foundation would promote mutual investment and business cooperation between Chinese and Italian enterprises, and introduce new opportunities brought by China's new development. Marco Bettin said that the Foundation is willing to become a bridge between China and Europe, Italy and Asia, and expressed confidence in the further successful development of bilateral trade and economic ties.
Source: SAMR
Chinese car dealers pledge to comply with antitrust laws
The China Automobile Dealers Association has adopted the Convention on Anti-Monopoly Self-Regulation of the Industry. The Convention requires the Association and its members to proactively comply with anti-monopoly laws and consciously maintain fair competition in the market. Members of the Association are prohibited from concluding or organizing anti-competitive agreements, abusing their dominant position in the market, and strictly complying with all anti-monopoly requirements when making investments, mergers and acquisitions.
Source: Weixin
ByteDance demands $1.1 million from former intern
ByteDance has ordered a former intern to pay $1.1 million in damages for intentionally attacking its large language model training infrastructure. While lawsuits between companies and employees are common in China, suing an intern for such a large amount is unusual. The intern, believed to be a graduate student at Peking University, is said to have intentionally sabotaged the team’s model training tasks by manipulating code and making unauthorized changes. The intern was fired in August. The company called rumors that his actions cost ByteDance millions in losses and affected more than 8,000 GPUs “grossly exaggerated.”
Source: Reuters
Chinese and Brazilian agricultural regulators agree to cooperate
As part of Chinese President Xi Jinping's participation in the 19th G20 Leaders' Summit and his state visit to Brazil, a Memorandum of Understanding on Market Surveillance was signed between SAMR and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply. The agreement aims to establish a cooperation mechanism to strengthen the exchange of technologies and practices in the field of sustainable agriculture, food safety and innovation, and to promote technical, scientific and commercial cooperation between the two sides in the field of agriculture.
Source: SAMR
Interdepartmental mechanism for energy sector regulation created
At a special meeting, SAMR and the State Energy Administration of China agreed to establish an inter-agency mechanism for regulating the energy sector. One of the key tasks of the new mechanism will be to regulate natural monopoly segments in the energy industry. The agencies will also jointly focus on checking electricity prices and will promote the effective development of a competitive order in the market. In addition, they will strengthen control over compliance with anti-monopoly laws and check applicable laws for the absence of provisions that hinder the development of competition.
Source: SAMR
SAMR visits UK, Italy and UAE
From October 23 to November 1, 2024, SAMR Deputy Director Meng Yang led a delegation to visit the United Kingdom, Italy and the United Arab Emirates.
During the visit to the United Kingdom, the delegation held talks with representatives of the Department for Business and Trade and the Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom to exchange views on key issues in antitrust regulation, promote fair competition and deepen cooperation between the two sides.
In Italy, the delegation communicated with the Italian Ministry of Entrepreneurship and the Competition and Markets Authority on digital economy regulation and antitrust regulation, and held consultations on the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of competition.
During the visit to the United Arab Emirates, the delegation met with the UAE Ministry of Economy and discussed strengthening exchanges and cooperation in the field of competition between the two sides within the BRICS framework. During the visit, the delegation also studied the activities of Chinese enterprises abroad and checked whether they comply with local anti-monopoly laws.
Source: SAMR
