BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- 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 (about 244 million U.S. dollars) 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.

According to the regulator, it received multiple complaints in 2025 alleging that Trip.com had forced hotels to accept unfair contractual terms and used technological means to influence hotel pricing, thereby harming fair market competition and squeezing hotel profitability.

The regulator opened an investigation in January 2026, which found that Trip.com had abused its dominant position in China's online hotel booking platform services market by using its traffic allocation mechanism, platform rules and technical tools to require certain hotels to enter into exclusive cooperation agreements and offer the "lowest price across the internet."

These practices restricted fair competition, limited hotels' ability to operate across multiple platforms, infringed upon their pricing autonomy, harmed consumer interests, and impeded the healthy development of the industry, the regulator noted.

In a statement released shortly after the penalty was imposed, Trip.com said it would use the punishment as an opportunity to conduct thorough self-reflection and pursue meaningful reform, and resolutely abandon inefficient "involution-style" competition. The company later specified 19 rectification measures.

Data from the homestay industry association in southwest China's Yunnan Province showed that platform commissions had been unilaterally raised from 8 to 10 percent several years ago to 12 to 18 percent currently. Consequently, some homestay operators have found themselves caught in a dilemma: refusing to cooperate with the platforms means losing access to customers, while cooperating often means operating at a loss.

This case highlights the evolving nature of monopoly conduct in the digital economy. Rather than relying on traditional forms of market exclusion, dominant digital platforms may leverage data, algorithms, traffic allocation mechanisms and platform rules to reinforce market power in ways that are less visible but potentially more harmful, industry experts explained.

The ruling sends a clear message that no platform enterprise is exempt from regular antitrust supervision regardless of its size or market position, and the application of algorithms or digital technologies should not shield companies from legal liability if used to distort competition, noted Ning Lizhi, a professor at the School of Law of Wuhan University in central China.

The enforcement action also aligns with China's broader regulatory framework for the platform economy. In recent years, Chinese authorities have gradually established a full-cycle regulatory system featuring compliance guidance before violations occur, routine supervision during business operations and law-based enforcement against illegal conduct.

The country's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) calls for sound regulation of the platform economy to promote its innovative and healthy development, with strengthened oversight of platform companies' use of data, algorithms, traffic and platform rules.

By reinforcing clear competitive boundaries, China's antitrust enforcement aims to create a healthier business environment in which digital platforms compete through innovation rather than market exclusion, providing stronger support for the long-term, high-quality development of the platform economy, industry experts said. ■