WeChat owner says 'people power' is helping it fight fakes

Chinese tech giant Tencent has published the latest edition of its brand protection report for social media platform Weixin (WeChat), pointing to the success of its user-focused strategy.

The update notes that more than 98 per cent of the almost 180,000 takedown notices and reports of suspected intellectual property-infringing goods and content came from user-generated reports, outstripping those submitted by rights holders.

WeChat was removed from the recently-published 2024 'notorious markets' list from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) – which identifies online and physical markets allegedly involved in large-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting – on the grounds that the company had made progress in its efforts to tackle the illicit activity.

The platform, which has more than 1 billion users, had been included on both the 2022 and 2023 lists. It launched a brand protection programme (BPP) in 2015 to work with brand owners in counterfeiting and privacy, which now includes more than 640 members, up from around 570 in 2023.

Among other improvements to its programme are that more than 66 per cent of user reports were reviewed by brands in 2024, twice the percentage in 2020, which Tencent said reflected improvements to its reporting systems.

It proactively shut down more than 120,000 livestreaming rooms and removed more than 22,000 infringing short videos, thanks in part to the introduction of technological approaches like automatic keyword interception.

Weixin also supported 29 major offline investigations, a 20 per cent increase in case volume and a 15 per cent rise in case value to reach $300m, according to the report (PDF). Overall, 190 suspects were identified during the year.

"We're proud of the progress Weixin has made this year in strengthening our tools, mobilising our user communities, and expanding partnerships to tackle counterfeiting both online and offline," said Danny Marti, head of global public policy at Tencent.

"These efforts help brands connect with consumers more confidently, while advancing the authentic experiences that power the global digital economy," he added.

Photo by Adem AY on Unsplash