WeChat Tightens Crackdown Against Counterfeit with Major Improvements

GUANGZHOU, China, March 13, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Sellers of fake goods on WeChat are at greater risk than ever before. Over 72,000 accounts on WeChat have been punished in 2017 for selling counterfeit goods, according to WeChat’s annual report of Brand Owner Protection released on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the WeChat team announced 38 improvements on its Brand Protection Platform established in 2016, including that the previously invite-only mechanism now welcomes application of any brands. The Brand Protection Platform has also standardized the online infringement complaint system, which is expected to greatly improve efficiency.

Last week, WeChat announced that its monthly active users (MAU) reached 1 billion worldwide. In the field of brand protection, Brent Irvin, Vice President and General Counsel of Tencent, said the company takes the issue of infringement very seriously and is committed to improving its efficiency at handling complaints, and providing brand owners with comprehensive and multi-dimensional brand protection measures.

The WeChat team collected more than 126,000 valid infringement clues through user complaints on its Brand Protection Platform in the past year, and among which over 99.9% led to accurate crackdown facilitated by brand owners.

WeChat’s growing fight against infringement and tightening punishment has resulted in headaches of fake-selling, even in mini programs. As of early February, 2018, 976 mini programs have been permanently banned by WeChat. More than 22,300 infringing links and pieces of content have been removed.

More than 180 domestic and foreign enterprises from 18 countries and regions covering more than 400 well-known trademarks at home and abroad have registered on WeChat’s Brand Protection Platform. Most of the registered enterprises are from the United States, China, Switzerland, Japan and France.