US accuses Chinese tech companies Alibaba and Tencent of enabling hacking

Chinese technology giants Alibaba and Tencent appear on the list of companies that are complicit in hacking presented Tuesday by the Office of the United States Trade Representative, a list in which China continues to lead.

Thus, counterfeit and pirated goods from China accounted for 75% of the value (measured by manufacturer’s suggested retail price) of counterfeit and pirated goods seized by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in 2021.

The update of theMost Notorious Counterfeit and Pirate Markets Reportria” details a series of complicit companies in the piracy of physical and digital products, including cultural products such as movies or music.

Among them are the aforementioned Chinese companies, two of the main technological powers of the Asian country.

According to the report, wechatthe application belonging to Tencent (similar to WhatsApp but with multiple extra features), is “one of the largest platforms for counterfeit products in China.”

Although Tencent describes it as a “social communication tool and information publishing platform”,WeChat“provides an e-commerce ecosystem that facilitates the distribution and sale of counterfeit products to users of the general WeChat platform”, assures the United States.

All this thanks to functionalities such as the short video of the “channels” WeChat to advertise counterfeit products directly to consumers, who can purchase them through a “shopping cart” existing in the application.

“Tencent’s efforts to combat counterfeiting regarding the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem have been inadequate.”the report states.

The United States also points to the Alibaba group and its global platform, AliExpress, as well as the Chinese Taobao, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in the world.

Both are e-commerce platforms that connect consumers around the world with sellers based in China.

Although Alibaba “is known for its anti-counterfeiting processes and systems that are among the best in the e-commerce industry,” the report notes, the reality is quite different and there is “a pervasiveness of counterfeit products on the platform.”

“AliExpress is a dominant distributor of counterfeit products in wholesale quantities for online marketplaces in the United States and other countries.”, he assures.

This is all due to flaws such as the continued lack of effective vetting of vendors and checks on repeat infringers.

The Office of the United States Trade Representative, led by Katherine Tai, notes that while the sale and distribution of counterfeit and pirated products online is “a growing concern”, physical markets continue to allow substantial trade in counterfeit and pirated items.

Both copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting”cause significant financial losses to US rights holders and legal businesses, undermine crucial US comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of US workers, and pose significant risks to the health and safety of consumers”, lists the report.

This study is intended to motivate appropriate action by the private sector and governments to reduce piracy and counterfeiting.

Source: EFE