by Tyler Durden Saturday, Apr 10, 2021 - 10:45 AM Chinese anti-trust regulators have just slapped Alibaba with a record RMB18.2 billion ($2.8 billion) fine after concluding that the Chinese e-commerce giant had abused its market dominance for the sake of profit at the expense of Chinese society. The FT reported that China's State Administration of Market Regulation announced the penalty on Saturday. It was set at 4% of Alibaba's 2019 revenues, amounting to a slap on the wrist. Alibaba was meant to "carry out a comprehensive rectification" drive on its platform, a reference to what antitrust regulators deemed the company's primary sin: forcing merchants to sell exclusively on its Tmall and Taobao online shopping platforms. The review is intended to force Alibaba to strengthen its legal controls and compliance with the new antitrust framework. Alibaba has 15 days to submit a report detailing changes to this "illegal behavior. In a statement, Alibaba said it "sincerely accepted" the penalty.