China antitrust: Alibaba promises to assist regulators to maintain ‘market order’ after record fine

Alibaba Group Holding, the internet behemoth hit with a record US$2.8 billion fine from China’s antitrust authorities, has publicly promised to obey antitrust rules and to assist regulators in maintaining “market order”.

Alibaba, the parent company of the South China Morning Post, promised in a public statement that it would not take measures to force merchants to “pick one from two” – the misconduct it was accused of under China’s anti-monopoly law – and would not restrict market competition behaviour using technology means such as data and algorithms.