Antitrust supervision of the platform economy has become a common practice in various countries or regions, but we are not yet clear about the effectiveness of its implementation. This study examines how ex-ante antitrust regulations implemented by the government affect the innovation performance of enterprises in the platform economy. Using a data set of listed companies from 2015 to 2022, we studied the relationship between the Chinese government's implementation of the "Antitrust Guidelines on the Platform Economy" (referred to as the "Guidelines") and the innovation of platform economy operators. Our results show that after the implementation of the Guidelines, the substantive innovation of platform companies in the platform economy increased, while strategic innovation decreased; at the same time, the innovation performance of non-platform companies also decreased. In addition, the enterprise size and operating time of platform economy operators play a regulating role. This study fills the gap where current theoretical research lags behind platform economy antitrust practice, enriches the relevant literature on platform economy antitrust, and also provides policy basis for promoting the high-quality innovative development of China's platform economy.
