Facebook’s owner, Meta Platforms, is fighting to stop counterfeiters from pushing fake luxury goods from Gucci to Chanel on its social media apps, according to research and interviews, according to research and interviews. research and interviews, as the company entered the e-commerce sector.
Its platforms have emerged as a hotbed for counterfeiters, who exploit their wide range of social and private messaging tools to reach users, according to interviews with academics, industry groups, and counterfeiters, who have likened the efforts of brands to clamp down on services such as Facebook, Instagramand WhatsApp like a “whack-a-mole” game.
“Facebook and Instagram are important markets where counterfeit goods are sold to the public. It used to be eBay 10 years ago, and Amazon 5 years ago,” said Benedict Hamilton, managing director at Kroll, a private investigative firm hired by brands damaged by counterfeiting and smuggling.
Searchled by social media analytics firm Ghost Data and shared exclusively with Reuters, shows counterfeiters are selling imitations of luxury brands including Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Fendi, Prada and Chanel.
It identified more than 26,000 accounts of active fakers on Facebook in a June-October 2021 study, the first of which its counterfeit research focused on By Meta top app, and it found more than 20,000 accounts of active fakers on Instagram, up from the previous year’s numbers but down from the 2019 high when they identified about 56,000 accounts . Around 65% of the accounts found in 2021 are based in China, followed by 14% in Russia and 7.5% in Turkey.
Ghost Data is an Italian analytics company founded by cybersecurity expert Andrea Stroppa, who is also a data analytics consultant for the World Economic Forum. The company has a track record of exposing the use of social media by imposters, Islamic State supporters, and for digital propaganda.
A Reuters keyword search identified dozens of Instagram accounts and Facebook posts that appeared to promote fakes, which Meta removed for violating its rules after Reuters flagged them.
Online commerce is a priority for Meta, which has pushed for new shopping features that can help boost revenue as it faces pressures such as changing advertising and user growth. , and has signaled a tough stance against counterfeiters. Instagram says luxury brands like Dior, Balenciaga and Versace have adopted its in-app shopping features, and says some like Oscar De La Renta and Balmain are using in-app payments.
But users exploiting its platform to sell counterfeit goods are causing a nagging problem for the company, which also faces scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators over content censorship. content of the company.
A spokesperson for Meta said: “The trade in counterfeits and fraud is a persistent problem with new technology. “We’re getting better every day at stopping these sales and catching up with fraudsters,” the person added.
‘Playing catch’
Most buyers know they’re not getting the real deal when they pay $100 (about Rs 7,480) for a handbag that retails for over $5,000 (about Rs 3.7). However, harms include impact on sales and brand reputation, potential safety issues of unregulated goods, and the link between counterfeiting and organized crime activity. function, experts said.
Meta has joined e-commerce sites and online marketplaces to grapple with the sale of counterfeit goods. But unlike public listings on shopping-specific sites like eBay and AmazonSocial platforms also give offenders multiple channels to post in closed spaces, send private messages and consume vanishing content like Instagram Stories, experts say.
“They are creating a lot of unique opportunities for counterfeiters to hide,” said Lara Miller, vice president of corporate strategy at the International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. “We’re all playing catch-up.”
The Ghost Data report said that the counterfeiters took advantage of features like WhatsApp’s product catalog, which is unencrypted and available through the app’s “business profile” option to display products. their.
Ghost Data’s Stroppa said he’s seen a growing trend of all fake transactions happening on the company’s platform, rather than linked to external websites.
Some luxury brands remain wary of their ability to deal with counterfeiters across a variety of major online platforms, from e-commerce sites to social apps.
In 2020, Chanel, Lacoste and Gant left a European Commission initiative to strengthen cooperation between brands and websites including eBay, Alibaba and Facebook’s Marketplace to combat counterfeiting, because that it doesn’t work.
Chanel’s chief financial officer, Philippe Blondiaux, said in an interview last year that Chanel, which only sells cosmetics and fragrances online, doesn’t believe Facebook or Instagram is “the right environment for selling items.” luxury goods”. and intimate environment for its customers.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which estimates the global trade in counterfeit goods to amount to $464 billion (approximately Rs 34,71,400) in 2019, has reported an e-commerce boom in the period 2020- 21 has led to a massive growth in the supply of counterfeit goods online. Scholars say fraud has mushroomed in time COVID-19 pandemic, while the laws of the United States and the European Union still cannot combat it.
Chanel, Gucci and Prada said their fight against counterfeiting led to hundreds of thousands of social media posts being taken down last year, but did not comment specifically on Meta’s services. The owner of LVMH of Vuitton and Fendi, in a filing that said they spent $33 million (about Rs 250) fighting counterfeiting in 2020, declined to comment.
According to the lawsuit Meta filed with Gucci last year, the platform has been struggling since 2015 to shut down a Moscow woman who allegedly sold counterfeit goods on a service through a network of more than 150 accounts.
Fight with counterfeiters
Meta with more user shopping data can help with ad targeting, filling the information gap left later Apple began allowing owners of their devices to block companies from accessing user information.
Meta’s legal directors told Reuters that cracking down on counterfeiters is key as its commercial plans go ahead. “As commerce became a strategic priority for the company, and as we were building new shopping experiences, we realized we wanted to make sure those experiences were safe and reliable for our customers. brands and users,” said IP general counsel Meta director and associate Mark Fiore last summer.
Meta, which says it has 3.59 billion monthly active users on its apps, in October rolled out an updated tool for brands to find and report fakes in posts. , advertising, or commercial features, and said they generally respond to complaints about such violations within 24 hours.
In one recent report, the company said it removed 1.2 million fake content on Facebook, including accounts, reported to them between January and June 2021, and about half a million on Instagram. The company said that during this period it also proactively removed 283 million pieces of content on Facebook that violated its counterfeiting or piracy rules, and about 3 million on Instagram, before they were reported by brands. or before they appear online.
© Thomson Reuters 2022
