Chinese police smash smear campaign targeting Alibaba, JD.com ahead of shopping festival.
Police in mainland China have dismantled a coordinated, months-long smear campaign targeting major e-commerce platforms Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com, as Beijing continues to facilitate fair competition and improve the environment for the private sector.
Both companies publicly praised the police in Chengdu, capital of China’s southwestern Sichuan province, for “combating online rumours” and “maintaining a clean and healthy online environment”, according to social media posts last week by JD.com and Taobao Shangou, the instant commerce unit of Alibaba.
The Taobao Shangou post specifically said that the false information included fabricated images of uniforms of its food delivery couriers with altered text on the clothes to imply that the platform offered illegal services.
Smear campaigns happen in China and they should not be treated lightly as experience has proven that they can cause considerable damage. Chinese law is well equiped to fight them though, provided it is competently relied on.