CHINA MARKET REGULATOR FINED E-COMMERCE PLATFORMS OVER FOOD TAKEOUT-RELATED CASES TOTALLING 3.6 BLN YUAN - XINHUA

Chinese regulators fined major delivery platforms including Alibaba Group, PDD Holdings, Meituan, JD.com and ByteDance’s Douyin a total of 3.6 billion yuan ($528 million) for failing to filter unqualified merchants, according to the State Administration for Market Regulation. The penalty, the largest since the 2015 food safety law revision, included fines and confiscation of improper income tied to “ghost deliveries,” where merchants used fake locations or licenses and sometimes outsourced orders without disclosure. Authorities said platforms lacked adequate review processes but had removed unlicensed vendors after inspections, while executives responsible for food safety were separately fined 19.7 million yuan.

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