On April 17, the State Administration for Market Regulation imposed administrative penalties on seven e-commerce platforms including Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Pinduoduo), Beijing Sankuai Technology Co., Ltd. (Meituan), Beijing Jingdong 360 E-Commerce Co., Ltd. (JD.com), Shanghai Lazashi Information Technology Co., Ltd. (formerly Ele.me, now Taobao Flash Sale), Beijing Douyin Technology Co., Ltd. (Douyin), Zhejiang Taobao Network Co., Ltd. (Taobao), and Zhejiang Tmall Network Co., Ltd. (Tmall) for cases related to "ghost takeaway" services. The penalties were issued in accordance with Article 131 of China's Food Safety Law and Article 83 of the E-Commerce Law.
The seven platforms were ordered to rectify their illegal activities, suspend the addition of new cake shops for periods ranging from three to nine months, and pay total fines and confiscations amounting to 3.597 billion yuan. Additionally, under Article 75 of the Implementation Regulations of the Food Safety Law, legal representatives and food safety directors of the seven companies were collectively fined 19.6874 million yuan.
Investigations revealed that these platforms failed to strictly review food business licenses, neglected their obligation to conduct due diligence on qualifications, and entered into cooperation agreements with order-transferring platforms despite being aware, or having reason to be aware, that such practices harmed consumer rights. The legal representatives and food safety directors were found to have failed in fully executing their management responsibilities, in serious violation of relevant provisions of China's Food Safety Law, E-Commerce Law, and related regulations.
Following the launch of the investigation, market regulators immediately instructed the platforms to take corrective actions. All seven companies have since removed unverified "ghost stores" from their platforms and terminated catering order-transfer partnerships with relevant third-party platforms.
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