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China antitrust: Alibaba’s home province vows to ‘supervise and guide’ the e-commerce giant to rectify violations

  • Zhejiang province will follow Beijing’s order to tame China’s internet giants, said Communist officials, after Alibaba was hit with a record fine
  • E-commerce is a major contributor to Zhejiang’s online economy

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A person walks past a signage of Alibaba at the company’s headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on March 24, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg
Minghe Hu

The Communist Party leadership in China’s eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, home to Alibaba Group Holding, has pledged to “supervise and guide” the e-commerce giant and its fintech affiliate Ant Group to complete “rectification” after months of scrutiny by the central government. 

The Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Communist Party held a special meeting this week to declare their intention to implement Beijing’s order to tame the “platform economy”, an umbrella term that encompasses most of China’s internet giants, the party-owned Zhejiang Daily reported on Wednesday. 

Provincial officials will also “promote the health and regulated development” of the industry, the report said.

People walk outside the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on March 24, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg
People walk outside the Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou, China, on March 24, 2021. Photo: Bloomberg
The meeting, chaired by Zhejiang party secretary Yuan Jiajun, was meant to show support for Beijing’s latest antitrust moves, including a record fine of US$2.8 billion imposed on Alibaba, the owner of the South China Morning Post, for forcing merchants to choose its platforms over others.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), and China Taxation Administration on Tuesday urged 34 of the country’s largest technology companies to learn from Alibaba’s case, as the country widened the scope of its crackdown on malpractice by Big Tech.

Tencent Holdings, JD.com, Meituan and ByteDance were among the first internet behemoths to publicly disclose their pledge to be compliant after being told to conduct self-inspections in the coming month.

Jack Ma, billionaire founder of Alibaba, speaks to the South China Morning Post in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, on March 29, 2016. Photo: Sam Tsang
Jack Ma, billionaire founder of Alibaba, speaks to the South China Morning Post in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, on March 29, 2016. Photo: Sam Tsang

Zhejiang province is home to about 9 million online merchants, or nearly half of the national total, according to official provincial data. The local government is known for its supportive policy towards e-commerce development, which helped internet platforms like Alibaba grow.

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