Seven e-commerce platforms including Pinduoduo, Meituan, JD.com, Ele.me, Douyin, Taobao, and Tmall were fined 3.597 billion yuan.

On April 17, the State Administration for Market Regulation made administrative penalty decisions on seven e-commerce platforms in a series of "ghost takeout" cases in accordance with the law, ordering the seven e-commerce platforms to correct their illegal behavior, suspending new cake shops for three to nine months, and imposing fines and confiscations totaling 3.597 billion yuan. At the same time, a total of 19.6874 million yuan in fines was imposed on the legal representatives and food safety directors of seven platform companies.

According to the State Administration for Market Regulation, in accordance with Article 131 of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China and Article 83 of the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology Co., Ltd. (Pinduoduo), Beijing Sankuai Technology Co., Ltd. (Meituan), Beijing Jingdong Sanbailu Shidu E-commerce Co., Ltd. (JD.com), and Shanghai Lazars Information Technology Co., Ltd. Seven e-commerce platforms including the company (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) have imposed corresponding penalties; in accordance with the provisions of Article 75 of the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", the legal representatives and food safety directors of the seven platform companies have been punished accordingly.

After investigation, the above-mentioned seven e-commerce platforms did not strictly control the license review of online food operators and failed to perform their qualification review obligations in accordance with the law; they signed cooperation agreements with transfer orders platforms and knew or should have known that transfer orders infringed on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but failed to take necessary measures; the legal representatives and food safety directors of the seven e-commerce platforms were responsible for food safety management, but failed to fully perform their relevant job responsibilities. The above-mentioned behavior seriously violates the relevant provisions of the "Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", the E-Commerce Law of the People's Republic of China, and the Implementation Regulations of the Food Safety Law of the People's Republic of China.

After the investigation into the case was launched, the State Administration for Market Regulation immediately ordered the e-commerce platforms to make immediate changes. All seven e-commerce platforms have removed the unaudited "ghost stores" from their shelves and stopped cooperating with the relevant re-order platforms for catering re-orders.