China Names Gan Lin Top Trust Buster Amid Internet Crackdown

What’s new: China’s State Council, the cabinet, appointed Gan Lin as the new head of the country’s anti-monopoly bureau under the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China said Monday on its website.

Gan, 58, was deputy minister of the SAMR since 2011, in charge of anti-monopoly enforcement, price inspection and anti-unfair competition supervision. She also has served as a member and secretary-general of the Anti-Monopoly Commission of the State Council since 2018.

A former professor at Hunan Agriculture University, Gan stepped into government in 2001, first as deputy director of the Agriculture Department of Hunan province and then as vice governor of the province.

Several interviewees told Caixin that Gan has been deeply involved in several high-profile anti-monopoly cases in the internet sector this year and has played a core role in pushing forward the cases.

The background: The Chinese government is stepping up a crackdown on market monopolies and anti-competitive behavior in the internet platform industry that has shaken tech giants including Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

In April, the SAMR fined Alibaba a record 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) for violating antitrust laws, marking a seismic shift in the government’s quest to rein in monopolistic behavior by online platforms. That was followed by more probes and punishments of big companies, including social media giant Tencent and online food delivery service Meituan.

In October, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to correct practices that harm the interests of consumers and hinder fair competition and to prevent monopolies in the technology sector.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

Contact reporter Denise Jia (huijuanjia@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (hello@caixin.com)

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