https://www.scmp.com/rss/522155/feed The latest news and top stories on China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. A prominent Beijing-based governmental body, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) is a ministerial-level agency under the State Council. Established in 2018, its primary mission is comprehensive market supervision and management. SAMR’s main areas of activity include antitrust enforcement, market entity registration, product quality and safety regulation and overseeing standards testing... en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Iris Deng Iris Deng Tencent Holdings has secured conditional approval to acquire online audio platform Ximalaya after a nearly year-long review by China’s antitrust watchdog, a move set to expand the Shenzhen-based tech giant’s footprint in China’s digital content ecosystem. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) cleared the deal on Tuesday, but imposed five conditions covering pricing and exclusivity to “effectively mitigate the potential negative impacts” of the acquisition, according to an... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3353315/china-clears-tencents-ximalaya-acquisition-strict-bans-exclusive-deals-fee-hikes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3353315/china-clears-tencents-ximalaya-acquisition-strict-bans-exclusive-deals-fee-hikes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 May 2026 13:48:30 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng China has unveiled new rules to rein in aggressive pricing tactics by online platforms, prohibiting e-commerce operators from forcing merchants to offer discounts or setting different prices based on user demographics without consent. The 29-article regulation – jointly issued over the weekend by the National Development and Reform Commission, State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), and Cyberspace Administration of China – lays out detailed compliance requirements that target several... https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3337315/china-bans-e-commerce-platforms-forcing-lowest-prices-or-abusing-algorithms?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3337315/china-bans-e-commerce-platforms-forcing-lowest-prices-or-abusing-algorithms?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Dec 2025 10:00:14 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng China’s market regulator has moved to tackle the hidden risks of algorithm-driven price manipulation with newly proposed anti-monopoly guidelines for online shopping, food delivery and travel platforms. A draft of the “Anti-Monopoly Compliance Guidelines for Internet Platforms”, published over the weekend by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), focused heavily on the sophisticated, often opaque ways in which online platforms with significant market power can exploit... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3333098/china-targets-ai-powered-price-manipulation-new-antitrust-guidelines?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3333098/china-targets-ai-powered-price-manipulation-new-antitrust-guidelines?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Nov 2025 13:00:10 +0000 Fran Lu Fran Lu Chinese women are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) generated footage of vagabonds at their homes to test how much their partners love them. The unusual trend has sparked concerns over the abuse of AI-generated content. On mainland social media platforms, several women said that they asked AI to generate images and videos of homeless men inside their room and send the footage to their husband or boyfriend. Some also generated a set of images and made up a story of them seeing a... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3329912/china-wives-use-ai-generated-videos-homeless-men-breaking-homes-test-husbands-love?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3329912/china-wives-use-ai-generated-videos-homeless-men-breaking-homes-test-husbands-love?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Oct 2025 06:00:09 +0000 Ann Cao Ann Cao Tencent Holdings, which runs the world’s largest video gaming business by revenue and China’s biggest social media platform WeChat, has become the latest mainland technology company to push the adoption of locally designed artificial intelligence (AI) chips, as the country cuts the use of imported semiconductors such as those from Nvidia. The Shenzhen-based tech conglomerate’s cloud computing unit, Tencent Cloud, said it was supporting “mainstream domestic chips” in its AI computing... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3325713/tech-war-tencent-pushes-adoption-chinese-ai-chips-mainland-cuts-reliance-nvidia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3325713/tech-war-tencent-pushes-adoption-chinese-ai-chips-mainland-cuts-reliance-nvidia?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Sep 2025 09:00:08 +0000 Mandy Zuo Mandy Zuo It has been a tumultuous couple of months for Alex Xu’s company – a solar panel manufacturer based in eastern China’s Zhejiang province – as product prices have surged by about 20 per cent. Long plagued by severe oversupply, China’s photovoltaic industry is grappling with cutthroat price wars and even loss-making sales. From Xu’s perspective, nearly half of the industry’s capacity is excessive. But a rebound in prices has followed recent calls from Chinese authorities to combat “involution”, or... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322605/chinas-crippling-price-wars-old-laws-revision-seeks-sustainable-equilibrium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322605/chinas-crippling-price-wars-old-laws-revision-seeks-sustainable-equilibrium?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Aug 2025 22:00:12 +0000 Ji Siqi Ji Siqi Beijing has signalled stronger action against price wars, convening a high-level symposium of enterprises and regulators – including many left out of previous meetings – to tackle cutthroat competition in the solar sector. Authorities vowed to tighten oversight of new project investments, phasing out outdated capacity through market-based and rule-of-law approaches, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), one of the meeting’s hosts. “Efforts will focus on... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322512/china-expands-regulatory-arsenal-fight-against-solar-industry-price-wars?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322512/china-expands-regulatory-arsenal-fight-against-solar-industry-price-wars?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Aug 2025 09:30:09 +0000 Danielle Popov Danielle Popov China has introduced new regulations requiring makers of lithium-ion battery packs to obtain a mandatory quality and security certificate, a move that comes after the demise of a major power bank brand amid a string of fire incidents caused by faulty products. Starting Friday, power banks must carry a China Compulsory Certification (CCC), or 3C certificate, before they can be sold, distributed or produced in China, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. While the regulation... https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3322002/china-rolls-out-mandatory-safety-regulations-power-banks-after-fire-incidents?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3322002/china-rolls-out-mandatory-safety-regulations-power-banks-after-fire-incidents?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:21 +0000 Coco Feng Coco Feng The daily delivery volume of Alibaba Group Holding briefly surpassed rival Meituan last week after it offered free drinks to customers who ordered through its on-demand service amid the industry’s cutthroat competition, according to a report by the technology media outlet LatePost. Orders on Alibaba’s instant commerce channel Taobao Shangou topped 100 million on Thursday, 20 million fewer than Meituan. After Meituan stopped its promotion on Friday and Saturday, Taobao’s orders overtook... https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3321583/alibaba-tops-meituans-china-demand-delivery-fuelled-1-million-cups-tea-daily?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3321583/alibaba-tops-meituans-china-demand-delivery-fuelled-1-million-cups-tea-daily?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Aug 2025 12:00:08 +0000 Coco Feng,Ann Cao Coco Feng,Ann Cao Shanghai delivery rider Xie Yu was halfway through his shift on Thursday when he realised he would end up with nearly 100 orders for the whole day, double his average number. The reason for the huge spike? Chinese consumers were lapping up offers of free drinks and discounted meals from food delivery giants Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan. “This is one of the craziest days I’ve experienced since I became a rider,” said Xie, 39, who has worked for both Alibaba’s Ele.me and Meituan over the past... https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3321235/how-alibaba-and-meituan-are-fighting-customers-one-free-drink-time?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3321235/how-alibaba-and-meituan-are-fighting-customers-one-free-drink-time?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 08 Aug 2025 13:00:09 +0000