Pinduoduo (拼多多) hit with CNY 1.52 billion penalty — highest among seven platforms in "ghost takeout" probe

Ruling and penalties

The State Administration for Market Regulation (市场监管总局) has fined and confiscated assets from seven e‑commerce platforms in a so‑called "ghost takeout" (“幽灵外卖”) enforcement sweep, and Pinduoduo (拼多多) received the largest share. Pinduoduo was ordered to pay a total of CNY 1,521,930,222.91 (about CNY 1.52 billion), while sanctions across all seven platforms amounted to CNY 3.597 billion. The regulator also ordered platform corrections and temporary suspensions on adding new cake‑shop listings for periods of three to nine months.

What the regulator found

The decision says Pinduoduo failed to verify the qualifications of 9,463 cake merchants on its Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology platform: 4,522 merchants had not uploaded food‑service licenses and 4,941 had licenses that did not cover decorated cake production. The regulator calculated related transaction value at CNY 97,089,306.49 and identified platform illegal gains of CNY 5,841,558.67. Investigators also found that two service providers — Chongqing Baifen Network Technology Co., Ltd. (重庆百分网络科技有限公司) and Xuancheng Mengsheng Flowers Co., Ltd. (宣城市梦晟花卉有限公司) — had been authorized via API access to enable "one‑click order transfer," letting merchants pass consumer orders to other food processors without informing customers, a practice the regulator says violates food‑safety and e‑commerce disclosure rules. The decision levied a per‑shop penalty at CNY 160,000 for each unreviewed outlet plus a separate CNY 2,000,000 fine for failing to curb harm to consumers.

Enforcement conduct and wider implications

The penalty document further states that during the probe Pinduoduo repeatedly refused to provide required materials, submitted false information at times, and reportedly used violent and soft‑confrontation tactics to obstruct enforcement. Why such a heavy sanction? Regulators framed it as the combined weight of scale, legal violations and obstruction. The case is the latest chapter in a sustained domestic regulatory tightening that has targeted food safety, consumer rights and platform governance since Beijing began reining in big tech; foreign investors and overseas observers should see it as part of broader policy priorities rather than an isolated action.