Abstract: As food consumption and internet technology develop in China, social platforms represented by WeChat and QQ have attracted a large number of food producers and operators by virtue of their convenient transaction methods and extensive user base. As an online food transaction service provider, social platforms possess both social and economic attributes and must fulfill statutory duties such as conducting access reviews and risk monitoring on food producers and operators. However, under the multi-responsibility system of social platforms in China, their legal liabilities in online food transactions face issues such as misalignment between platform responsibilities and roles, ambiguous standards for fulfilling responsibilities, and lack of sufficient internal motivation and external support for platform accountability. Accordingly, we should reshape the legal responsibilities of social platforms, clarify their legal status, improve the responsibility setting and construct a supporting system for responsibility bearing on the basis of giving consideration to efficiency and fairness so as to promote the orderly development of the online food industry and guarantee consumers’ right to life and health.

Key words: food transactions; social media platforms; legal responsibility; food safety; platform responsibility