Bad news for the shopping platforms managed by the Chinese giants Alibaba and Tencent. AliExpress e WeChat have ended up on an annual US government checklist for counterfeit goods and piracy. Indeed, as stated by the Commercial Representative’s Office, “they facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting“. Adding that China is the “main country of origin for counterfeit goods”. And also for goods made through forced labor. Are we again facing a crisis situation between the US and China?
AliExpress and WeChat blacklisted by the US for counterfeiting products
“Existing data shows a correlation between the use of forced and child labor in the global production of certain products and the types of products that are most commonly counterfeit.” So we read in the annual report of the USTR Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy. USTR itself said that Alibaba has some of the best control practices on counterfeit products compared to its peers, but also said there has been a large increase in counterfeit goods. counterfeit items sold on AliExpress. WeChat, on the other hand, has an e-commerce platform integrated into its messaging service, where i checks on sellers are really scarce. This facilitates the circulation of counterfeit goods, of course.
No wonder, then, that both platforms have been blacklisted by the US. In response, a spokesperson for Tencent – WeChat’s parent company – said he was “strongly disagree” with the decision of the USTR. And he added that the company is “committed to working collaboratively to resolve the issue”. Alibaba, on the other hand, has not yet released any statements. For its part, the USTR has named other platforms related to the movement of counterfeit goods. Between these, Taobao – owned by Alibaba – e Pinduoduo, an e-commerce App. AND Wangpan, a cloud service from Baidu that it claims supports content piracy. In short, AliExpress and WeChat are in excellent company.