China summons Pinduoduo, JD.com, Taobao and others over misleading ads

BEIJING, June 11 — Chinese e-commerce giants Pinduoduo and JD.com were among five major platforms summoned on Thursday for talks over misleading advertising, Beijing’s market watchdog said.

Social media sites Douyin and RedNote, along with Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Taobao, were also summoned.

The talks with company representatives, held by the Beijing Municipal Administration for Market Regulation, come as local and national authorities crack down on excessive “involution-style” competition.

Official efforts to tame “involution” — a popular tag used to describe the race to outcompete that ends up nowhere — has hit major Chinese firms across online shopping, food delivery and electric vehicles.

The Beijing watchdog said it had identified issues including false advertising for promotional events, irregular rules and failing to disclose merchant information, according to a statement.

It proposed “rectification requirements” aimed at preventing and mitigating risks during the so-called “6.18” online shopping festival this month.

Some of the platforms had launched “10 billion (yuan) subsidy” campaigns for the shopping event but did not detail actual subsidy amounts or the length of the promotion, the statement said.

AFP has reached out to the firms for comment. — AFP