December 12, 2025 — China’s market regulator has introduced a new recommended national standard for food delivery platforms, aiming to curb distortive competition practices and restore order in an increasingly contentious sector.
The standard, issued by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), targets practices such as forced participation in promotions, cost-shifting to merchants, misleading subsidies and algorithm-driven non-price competition, which authorities say have fuelled irrational competition and harmed smaller restaurants and delivery workers.
Under the new framework, platforms may no longer compel merchants to join discount campaigns, interfere with independent pricing decisions, or penalise non-participating businesses through reduced visibility or traffic. The rules also prohibit platforms from disguising merchant-funded discounts as platform subsidies or using exaggerated marketing tactics that distort price perceptions.
The move follows repeated regulatory interventions this year, including meetings with major platforms over aggressive competitive behaviour. While formally non-binding, the standard is intended to serve as a baseline for enforcement, with regulators signalling closer scrutiny of platform pricing, promotions and ranking practices.
The measures form part of China’s broader effort to rein in competition risks in the platform economy while stabilising market conditions in one of the country’s largest consumer-facing digital markets.
Source: https://www.samr.gov.cn/xw/mtjj/art/2025/art_de4ba4c061204f299d92e794bc551109.html
