Social media e-commerce is flooded with fakes, and it is imperative for platforms to crack down on counterfeiting

The UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) recently surveyed 1,000 female consumers to measure the situation of counterfeit products in the social media e-commerce market and determine the influence of influencers on social media platforms in promoting the sale of counterfeit products .

The UKIPO found in its survey that 17% of respondents ( 70% aged between 16 and 33) had purchased counterfeit products in the past year , and 13.3% of respondents said that they were influenced by bloggers on social media platforms to buy counterfeit products .

In other words, 13.3% of respondents deliberately purchased counterfeit products at the behest of social media influencers. The UKIPO believes that influencers are a noteworthy force in promoting counterfeit products and an important channel for counterfeit suppliers to enter the market.

According to a previous report by the UKIPO , fashion clothing and accessories are an important market where counterfeits are rampant . Such products are particularly attractive to young consumers, with 20% of respondents saying they had purchased pirated clothing or accessories in the past year , compared to 4% for older consumers .

The UKIPO report also mentioned that in addition to the two categories of fashion clothing and accessories , the jewelry , watches and beauty products markets are also flooded with pirated products .

Interesting findings from the UKIPO survey are that 18% of respondents believe that counterfeit products do not harm businesses and jobs, 22% believe that counterfeit products do not pose a threat to their health and safety, and 33% say that the prevalence of counterfeits is due to brands pricing their products too high.

In fact, there is already a lot of content involving counterfeit goods on Google , YouTube , and social media sites such as Instagram and TikTok . Browsing YouTube, you will find that many videos posted by content creators dominated by young women promote counterfeit clothing, accessories and beauty products to subscribers .

Where there is counterfeiting, there must be anti-counterfeiting. Brands and market platforms are joining forces to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods by influencers.

Amazon sued social media influencers Kelly Fitzpatrick and Sabrina Kelly in November 2020   Krejci conspired with sellers on the Amazon marketplace to promote counterfeit luxury goods on the Instagram platform .

Facebook also cooperated with Gucci in April 2021 to file a lawsuit against an influencer named Natalia Kokhtenko . The influencer used the Facebook and Instagram platforms to sell counterfeit luxury brand goods, violating trademark law and the terms and policies of the Facebook and Instagram platforms .

In general, platform anti-counterfeiting is an important means to protect property rights and maintain market order. However, anti-counterfeiting is also a long process. To create a healthy market environment, it still requires the joint efforts of the platform, platform merchants and consumers.

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