E-commerce giant Amazon is reportedly promising to give more data on counterfeit goods to law enforcement to crack down on fake items on its platform.
Reuters reports that e-commerce giant Amazon is planning to give more data on counterfeit goods to law enforcement in efforts to crack down on fake items on its platform. Amazon’s efforts come shortly after the company faced increased scrutiny over how it monitors counterfeit items on the website, the prevalence of which has discouraged top brands like Apple and Nike from selling on Amazon.
Apple reportedly tested Amazon offerings for original Apple accessories and found that 90 percent of the products were fakes.
Previously, Amazon has reported counterfeit sellers to authorities when the company believed it had enough information for police to pursue the sellers. Now, Amazon plans to disclose merchant information to European and U.S. federal authorities every time a counterfeit item is sold to a customer. Amazon reached a deal with Apple in 2018 in which Amazon agreed to remove counterfeit Apple products from the site.
According to a person with knowledge of the matter, Amazon had meetings with government authorities recently where the firm discussed its new counterfeit reporting policy and how the e-commerce giant can improve its enforcement efforts. Amazon will reportedly report a merchant’s name, company name, product and contact information to authorities if they around to have sold counterfeit items.
During trade talks between the United States and China, President Donald Trump ordered a crackdown on counterfeit items sold via online marketplaces. According to an estimate in the Trump memo, the value of global trade in pirated and counterfeit goods is half a trillion dollars per year.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com
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