Financial Wire

China Fines Food Delivery Operators for Failing to Vet Sellers

-- China's market regulator fined leading food delivery operators a total of 3.60 billion yuan for failing to filter out unqualified sellers, according to a notice released Friday.

Among those fined are Alibaba's (HKG:9988)Ele.me, Taobao, and Tmall, TikTok's Douyin, as well as Pinduoduo and Meituan (HKG:3690), the State Administration for Market Regulation said.

China also fined the legal representatives and food safety directors of the companies a total of 19.7 million yuan.

The decision comes after a series of probes on so-called "ghost deliveries" in which merchants affiliated to delivery operators used fake locations and licenses, Bloomberg reported separately.

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