In the recent past, Counterfeit goods used to be sold in secret but nowadays they’re all over the internet with tweeter, Instagram, and Facebook at the center of trading in knockoff fashion, from fake Chanel bags to dupe Gucci slides to counterfeit Adidas tracksuits.These counterfeit fashion accounts, which mostly focus on knock-off luxury fashion, are extremely active; cumulatively adding more than 85 million posts to Instagram, and their activity averages about 1.9 million Instagram Stories a month.
luxury fashion brands lose money in billions worth of sales to fake online merchants with The most counterfeited fashion brands on Instagram being Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Nike, Fendi, Adidas just to mention a few. The sale of knockoff products from these brands doesn’t just hurt their integrity but has also been linked to funding terrorism and other rings of criminal activity. Nowadays you hardly come across 20 people without one adorning military/police fatigue.
This is becoming a much bigger issue that social media platforms i.e. Instagram, Facebook, tweeter are helping inject a once-cover underground economy into the mainstream. Thanks to the web, tens of thousands of counterfeit businesses can set up shop on Instagram and seamlessly peddle merchandise online to shoppers who are hungry for luxury products but don’t want to pay top dollar.
To be fair, Instagram isn’t the only tech company helping the counterfeit industry grow; counterfeiters on Instagram, for example, are taking payment via WeChat, PayPal, and Venmo. Counterfeit sellers are also connecting to buyers via WhatsApp. There are plenty of sites with unknown origins that sell fashion knockoffs, alongside legitimate ones like Amazon and eBay.
Instagram’s Story feature, in particular, has also been instrumental for the online counterfeit economy to thrive and grow. Counterfeiters frequently post to Stories because the content disappears in 24 hours.Instagram’s counterfeit problem is only growing. And the analysis comes at a pretty pivotal moment for the social media platform, as it’s been pushing hard to become a top shopping destination.
It’s no doubt Instagram is becoming our mall of choice. More people are turning to the platform to shop, get style ideas from influencers, and build careers. But combating an unlawful trade as sophisticated and cosmic as counterfeit fashion will take some stern muscle, beyond building an algorithm or two, and it’s safe to say that Instagram, Facebook, Twitter WhatsApp, and all social media platforms will continue swimming in counterfeits until those who own these platforms are all set to truly concentrate on the delinquent.
