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China Regulator Flags ‘Lowest-Price’ Demands as Potential Antitrust Violations

By  |  December 17, 2025

China’s top market regulator has cautioned online platforms against forcing merchants to guarantee the lowest prices across the internet, warning that such practices may violate the country’s anti-monopoly laws.

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    The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) issued the warning on Wednesday during a news briefing focused on antitrust enforcement in sectors closely tied to everyday livelihoods, according to a statement released after the event. The comments come as authorities intensify efforts to address what they describe as increasingly sophisticated monopoly risks emerging from large digital platforms.

    Per a statement from the regulator, the briefing highlighted a newly-released draft framework on antitrust compliance for internet platforms. The document outlines eight types of emerging monopoly risks and is designed to offer clearer, more actionable compliance guidance for platform operators.

    Liu Jian, deputy head of SAMR’s first antitrust enforcement department, explained that one widespread practice has drawn particular regulatory concern. “One common practice is for platforms to require merchants not to sell goods on other competing platforms at prices lower than those on their own,” Liu said. “Such ‘lowest-price’ requirements may constitute an abuse of market dominance or form a monopoly agreement.”

    According to a statement from SAMR, the draft guidelines also focus on the growing use of so-called black box algorithms, referring to automated systems whose decision-making processes are not transparent to merchants or consumers. Regulators warned that opaque algorithms can disadvantage market participants and undermine fair competition.

    The draft document flags risks such as “algorithmic collusion” and calls on platform companies to conduct internal reviews of their algorithms. Per a statement from the briefing, firms are urged to establish early-warning mechanisms to detect and prevent monopolistic behavior before it causes broader market harm.

    “Promoting algorithms for the public good is an important compliance objective,” Liu said, adding that companies should tighten oversight to ensure their technologies are not used to enable anti-competitive conduct.

    Source: Global China Daily