Alibaba rapped for allowing sale of 'illegal products' like hacking tools and VPN
As it continues its efforts in removing and preventing counterfeit goods from appearing and being sold on its platforms, Alibaba is being called out by the Chinese government for another problem – Illegal products.
Alibaba is being called out by the Chinese government for allowing the sale of illegal products.
The ecommerce giant has been actively stepping up its efforts to protect intellectual property, with the expansion of the Cloud Sword Alliance key to its strategy, as well as launching a number of initiatives to stop counterfeit activities.
However, ahead of Alibaba’s release of its stellar quarterly financials last week, the Zhejiang province branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) sent a letter to the company’s subsidiaries, reprimanding them for allowing the sale of illegal products on its platforms.
The subsidiaries, which included popular marketplace Taobao and music-streaming site Xiami, were accused of allowing vendors to sell things like hacking tools, VPNs and drugs.
Alibaba released a statement saying: “Taobao forbids the listing or sale of any products that are forbidden by applicable law.
“We screen and remove product listings from third-party sellers which violate our marketplace rules. We will continue to strive to ensure that third party sellers comply with our marketplace rules.”