China scales online-platform liability in 'ghost kitchen' crackdown
By MLex Staff ( April 22, 2026, 06:55 GMT | Comment) -- China’s record fines against seven online platforms for “ghost kitchen” violations show how regulators translate long-standing expectations of platforms as gatekeepers into concrete enforcement actions. The ghost kitchen crackdown may therefore prove to be less about food safety alone, and more about defining the next phase of platform governance — where liability scales with size, and enforcement increasingly depends on access to platform-controlled data.China’s record fines against seven online platforms over “ghost kitchen” violations show how regulators translate long-standing expectations of platforms as gatekeepers into concrete enforcement actions....
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