Facebook, Instagram Marketplaces Rife With Fake Luxury Goods, Report Says

Meta is trying to stop fake luxury goods from circulating on its platforms, including big names from Gucci to Chanel, Reuters writes.

The platforms have become concentrated areas for counterfeit offenders.

The report says the brands’ work on policing services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp has been like “whack-a-mole.”

Research has said that counterfeiters have opened up over 26,000 active accounts on the social media platforms.

The Reuters report says there were dozens of Facebook accounts that seemed to be promoting counterfeit goods, which had been removed after being flagged.

Meta has been looking more at online commerce, having promoted new shopping features to help with revenue. And Instagram has touted luxury brands like Dior, Balenciaga and Versace, which have adopted new shopping features.

Meta says that having more shopping data might help with ad targeting, and might fill a vacuum after Apple began allowing owners of its devices block companies from accessing the info.

According to Meta legal officials, fighting counterfeiters is an important part of its commerce plans’ improvements.

Meta has 3.59 billion monthly active users. It’s also recently debuted a tool for brands to search and report counterfeits in posts.

“As commerce has become a strategic priority for the company and as we’ve been building new shopping experiences, we’ve recognized that we want to make sure those experiences are safe and trusted for brands and for the users,” Meta’s director and associate general counsel for IP Mark Fiore said last summer.

Meta also filed a lawsuit recently over a scam in which two Nigerian individuals had been reportedly engaging in fraudulent activity.

See also: Meta Files Lawsuit Over Financial Services Phishing Scam

The individuals had been reportedly doing phishing to get access to users’ financial accounts online.

The post says these individuals orchestrated the attacks between March 2020 and Oct. 2021, reaching out to Facebook and Instagram users to get their financial info.