Chinese regulator warns merchants 'lowest price' offers could breach anti-monopoly laws

China's top market regulator warned on Wednesday that online platforms requiring merchants to offer the "lowest price across the internet" could breach anti-monopoly laws.

The State Administration for Market Regulation made the comments during a news briefing on antitrust enforcement in sectors that affect livelihoods. This comes amid a broader push to rein in what officials describe as new and complex monopoly risks posed by large internet platforms.

Liu Jian, deputy head of SAMR's first antitrust enforcement department, said a recently released draft on internet platform antitrust compliance identifies eight emerging monopoly risks and is intended to provide "practical and effective" compliance guidance for platform companies.

"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."

The draft guidelines also target so-called black box algorithms — systems that lack transparency for merchants or consumers — which regulators say can harm market participants and distort competition.

The document lists risks including "algorithmic collusion" and urges platforms to carry out internal algorithm audits and build systems to identify and prevent monopolistic conduct at an early stage.

"Promoting algorithms for the public good is an important compliance objective," Liu said, adding that companies should strengthen controls to ensure algorithms do not facilitate anti-competitive behavior.

China's platform economy has distinct business models and involves complex, multi-sided interests, making it difficult to draw clear behavioral boundaries, Liu added. Regulators aim to guide companies to improve risk identification, risk management and compliance safeguards to prevent antitrust violations and support the sector's long-term development.