Chinese regulators have fined major food delivery platforms including Alibaba Group, PDD Holdings and Meituan for failing to filter out unqualified merchants.
The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) imposed a total of 3.6 billion yuan ($528 million) on various platforms, which also included JD and ByteDance’s Douyin, through fines and confiscation of income generated through improper use, according to a statement from the market watchdog on Friday (17). The penalty was the largest in history for delivery platforms since China’s food safety law was changed in 2015, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The watchdog’s decision followed a series of investigations by local governments into “ghost deliveries,” in which merchants registered with delivery platforms using false locations and falsified government-issued licenses. In some cases, merchants outsourced orders to others without informing customers.
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SAMR said it found that the penalized platforms did not have a rigorous review process for merchants as required by law, but that all platforms removed unlicensed stores after the investigation began. SAMR also separately fined legal representatives and executives in charge of food safety at these platforms a total of 19.7 million yuan.
PDD repeatedly refused to provide related materials as required and resorted to violence to obstruct regulatory enforcement, the market regulator said in a separate statement. At least two physical fights broke out in late 2025 between PDD employees and regulators carrying out checks related to fraudulent deliveries at the e-commerce company’s Shanghai facilities, Bloomberg News reported.
PDD said it has accepted and will comply with administrative penalties imposed by China’s market regulator over so-called “ghost takeout” practices, pledging to strengthen supervision, standardize operations and strengthen its social responsibility commitments, according to a post on the company’s official Weibo account.
Meituan promised to strengthen compliance and crack down on illegal practices to safeguard the safety of food delivery, according to a statement in response to the penalty. The company also announced measures to update its delivery governance system.
Douyin promises to strictly comply with regulatory requirements, strengthen compliance governance and work with merchants to improve service quality, according to a company statement. Alibaba’s Taobao Flash Sales said in a text statement that it will fully comply with regulatory penalties, conduct comprehensive inspections, strengthen the platform’s ongoing compliance and crack down on illicit practices to ensure food safety.
China’s hyper-competitive instant delivery market was embroiled in a price war last year as platforms tried to defend their market share. Authorities have stepped up scrutiny of the sector, repeatedly warning more aggressive competitors to safeguard the interests of traders and consumers.
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