From laissez-faire to regulatory winter? Regulating Chinese platforms at the crossroads of antitrust, industrial policy, and geopolitics

Abstract

This paper examines China's platform antitrust actions between 2019 and 2023, situating them within the broader contexts of industrial policy and geopolitical tensions. Between March 2021 and July 2022, SAMR issued 126 antitrust penalties against 12 leading tech firms including Tencent, ByteDance, Meituan, and Baidu. While these moves reflect state concerns over market concentration, they also expose tensions in China's political economy, as these firms are key actors in industrial upgrading and digital transformation targeted by policies such as Made in China 2025 and the Manufacturing Power Strategy (zhizao qiangguo) in an intensified geopolitical environment. Drawing on regulatory documents, policy texts, and SAMR penalty decisions, this paper addresses a gap in platform and policy studies by highlighting the role of private internet companies in advancing state industrial policy and geopolitical goals and offers empirical insights into two decades of market integration in China's internet sector through mergers and joint ventures.