BEIJING, April 17 -- China has issued fines totalling 3.6 billion yuan (RM2.08 billion) to seven major e-commerce platforms for food safety violations, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said on Friday.

The regulator said platforms, including Alibaba-owned Taobao, JD.com, Meituan, Temu-owner Pinduoduo and Douyin - China's version of TikTok - had failed to check the licenses of stores on their apps and allowed "ghost food deliveries" from unverified vendors.

SAMR said in a statement it had "ordered seven e-commerce platforms to rectify their illegal activities... and imposed fines and confiscations totalling 3.597 billion yuan".

The legal representatives of the companies were also fined a total of 19.7 million yuan, t...