Hangzhou market regulator summoned Meituan, Ele.me and other food delivery platforms over poor regulation and price-cutting
- The Hangzhou municipal market supervision bureau said it summoned food delivery platforms on July 21 to strengthen food safety supervision
- The news comes just as China has signalled an easing of a long period of increased regulatory scrutiny of the platform economy
China’s Hangzhou market regulator said it had summoned on-demand services giant Meituan, Ele.me and other food delivery platforms this month for talks over “vicious price-cutting” and poor regulation, according to a statement released by the regulator.
The Hangzhou municipal market supervision bureau said in a notice on its website on Thursday that it summoned food delivery platforms on July 21 to “strengthen the food safety supervision of food delivery platforms”.
The market regulator said it strictly prohibited “vicious, low-price competition” and that the relevant delivery platforms would be responsible for food safety in accordance with the law.
The news comes just as China has signalled an easing of a long period of increased regulatory scrutiny of the platform economy. China’s top leadership said on Thursday it would give “the green light” to a number of pending technology investment deals, sending a policy signal that Beijing is ready to encourage certain financing pacts involving Big Tech firms.
Regulatory hostility has been one of the biggest investment risks associated with Chinese tech stocks in recent months, having wiped out trillions of dollars in market value across New York and Hong Kong.