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Hidden office, fractured bone: violent resistance behind China’s record food safety fine

Details of secrecy, obstruction and violence emerge from a probe into 67,000 ‘ghost’ bakeries across China’s biggest e-commerce platforms

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Regulators have imposed the heaviest fine of 1.51 billion yuan on PDD and suspended it from adding new bakery merchants for nine months. Photo: Reuters
Coco Fengin Guangdong
Behind China’s landmark crackdown on the e-commerce and food-delivery sectors lies a darker narrative of resistance, secrecy and violence, after regulators uncovered a vast network of “ghost” bakeries and imposed a record fine on seven major platforms.

The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) levied a 3.6 billion yuan (US$528 million) fine on seven platforms run by PDD Holdings, Meituan, JD.com, Alibaba Group Holding and ByteDance, with the probe revealing a hidden office, violent clashes and an employee swallowing notes during questioning as firms desperately tried to shield data from investigators.

During an on-site probe in December, investigators struggled until late at night when they discovered a hidden office area as many employees were leaving for the day, according to a Monday report by China Quality Daily, a newspaper supervised by SAMR. As they tried to enter, one official, Guo Hui, had his hand crushed against a door by company staff, resulting in a fracture, the report said, without naming the company.

Xinhua News Agency on Saturday reported that the incident took place at Pinduoduo, the budget shopping site owned by PDD. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.

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