Chinese Government Asks E-commerce Companies To Limit Promotions On Singles Day November 11
JAKARTA— China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), as the main industry regulator, has asked e-commerce sites to curb text message marketing ahead of the country's November 11 annual Singles' Day shopping festival.
MIIT, in a social media post late on Wednesday 27 October, said it held a meeting on 25 October with representatives from e-commerce firms Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, JD.com Inc, Meituan and Pinduoduo Inc.
It emphasized to the company that vendors on their platform often use loopholes to send promotional text messages to registered users without consent, violating consumer rights. Unsolicited online content, commonly known as spam.
The regulator also asked companies to "check and correct" text message marketing activity and that they refrain from attempting to send promotional text messages without obtaining user consent.
Singles' Day is the United States equivalent of Cyber Monday. In the near future, Chinese e-commerce sites are offering limited-time discounts as their promotional activities.
The MIIT meeting comes amid a year-long regulatory campaign in China, where authorities have imposed restrictions and fines in sectors such as education and cryptocurrencies.
In April, authorities fined Alibaba a record $2.8 billion for engaging in anti-competitive behavior.