On May 27, 2026, JD.com founder Liu Qiangdong delivered an internal speech, saying that every possible means must be used to protect the jobs of frontline employees and to help blue-collar workers become white-collar, explicitly promising that not a single employee replaced by robots would be fired.
Recently, a JD Logistics employee publicly called out Liu Qiangdong at a labor-rights defense venue in Hangzhou, saying he joined JD because Liu had promised not to mistreat employees, but now his wife is in the hospital receiving emergency treatment while his wages have been withheld for over a year, and he demanded to know why.
On Nov 9, a delivery courier publicly called out Liu Qiangdong, criticizing JD Delivery's "0.01-yuan treat" promotional event. The event forced merchants to bear the costs and drastically lowered courier delivery fees, causing courier earnings per order to drop far below normal levels, which triggered strong backlash from both merchants and couriers.