On the legal regulation of cut-throat competition within e-commerce platforms

Abstract

China's e-commerce industry enters an era of competition within existing markets, the dividend from traffic is gradually diminishing, and the space for external market expansion is increasingly limited. In order to compete for limited user resources and market share, various e-commerce platforms are gradually aban-doning the healthy competition model centered on technological innovation and differentiated services, and instead falling into a typical form of involutionary competition characterized by low-price dumping, false advertising, big data price discrimination, and "choose one or the other" exclusive transactions. Such com-petitive behaviors not only seriously disrupt the order of fair competition in the market and inhibit the overall innovation vitality of the industry, but also directly infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, squeezing the liv-ing and development space of small and medium-sized operators and emerging platforms, ultimately leading to a vicious cycle of "bad money driving out good money." This paper uses the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and the Anti-Monopoly Law as core legal analysis tools. It first defines the connotation of involutionary competition within e-commerce platforms, systematically sorts out its behavioral patterns and multi-level social harms. Then, it deeply analyzes the practical di-lemmas faced by the current legal system in regulating such competition, such as vague behavioral characterization, difficulties in determining market dominance, light legal liability settings, and insufficient coordination between law enforce-ment and judiciary. Finally, from multiple dimensions including legislative coor-dination refinement, innovation in law enforcement mechanisms, strengthening of judicial protection, and supplement of industry self-discipline, this paper pro-poses a path to build a systematic, professional, and dynamic governance system for e-commerce competition. The study believes that to address involutionary competition within e-commerce platforms, it is necessary to transcend the limi-tations of a single legal department or law enforcement means, promote the con-nection and coordination within the competition law system and with other market regulatory laws, strengthen data-driven regulatory capabilities, and fully leverage the rule-guiding role of judicial judgments, thereby effectively curbing irrational competition on platforms, maintaining a healthy and orderly digital market ecosystem, and promoting the e-commerce industry to achieve high-quality development driven by innovation.