BEIJING -- China's antitrust action against leading online travel service provider Trip.com Group on Saturday underlines the country's commitment to fostering a fairer and more innovation-driven platform economy, making it clear that market dominance and technological advantages should not be exploited to undermine competition.
The State Administration for Market Regulation announced Saturday that it has imposed administrative penalties on Trip.com Group, the operator of Ctrip travel platform, for abusing its dominant market position in violation of the country's anti-monopoly law.
The company was ordered to forfeit 1.658 billion yuan ($244 million) in illegal gains and pay a 3.521 billion yuan fine, bringing the total penalty to 5.179 billion yuan.
The regulator also ordered the group to refund 122 million yuan in hotel order reserve funds that had been forcibly deducted from hotel operators, undertake comprehensive rectification measures and publicly disclose its corrective actions.
The case is China's first antitrust enforcement action involving the online travel industry and the first targeting new forms of monopolistic conduct enabled by digital technologies, demonstrating the country's commitment to strengthening regular antitrust oversight in the platform economy.
