Beijing’s market regulator has summoned major e-commerce platforms including Taobao, Tmall and JD.com over excessive competition during the ongoing “618” shopping festival, reports Caixin.
On Thursday, the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation held talks with Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and Xiaohongshu, where the regulator showed a batch of systemic problems uncovered during its ongoing campaign against involution-style competition that included false advertising, non-compliant promotion rule making and failure to disclose vendor credentials.
During the “618” shopping festival, Taobao, Tmall, Pinduoduo and JD.com heavily marketed their RMB 10 billion ($1.5 billion) subsidy campaigns. However, none of the platforms specified the actual subsidy amounts or the funding ratios shared between the platforms and merchants, nor could they provide supporting evidence to the regulator.