Chinese province summons five e-commerce firms over livestreaming

BEIJING - A consumer protection organisation in China's Zhejiang Province on Thursday summoned five online platforms including Alibaba Group's Taobao, Pinduoduo and JD.com over livestreaming irregularities during the Singles' Day shopping festival, according to state-owned media.

Short video-sharing and livestreaming platforms Kuaishou and ByteDance's Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, were also summoned.

The consumer protection organisation said there were irregularities with nearly 30% of livestreamers during Singles' Day, while almost 40% of the products sold during the livestreams failed to meet national standards.