Beijing's branch of the State Administration for Market Regulation summoned several major e-commerce platforms over what officials described as misleading promotional practices during the annual "618" shopping festival, according to a report on Thursday by state broadcaster CCTV.
The platforms included Alibaba's (HKG:9988) Taobao and Tmall, JD.com (HKG:9618), PDD Holdings' Pinduoduo, ByteDance's Douyin, and Xiaohongshu.
The regulator criticized some platforms for advertising "10 Billion Yuan Subsidy" campaigns that appeared to promise tens of billions of yuan in consumer discounts, the report said.
Taobao, Tmall, and JD.com were cited for failing to provide details of the actual subsidy amounts offered during the campaign, as well as the respective contributions made by the platforms and participating merchants, according to CCTV.
Shares of Alibaba were down nearly 6% in Thursday's afternoon trade, while JD.com was down nearly 4%.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)