WeChat, a popular messaging app, has now broadened into online business. Users can create virtual stores, and then either sell goods through public accounts or their circle of friends. But fakes abound, as there's essentially no requirements needed to open a store - in contrast with the high threshold set by Taobao, rival firm Alibaba's main e-commerce platform. That's caused a spate of ads with untrue claims, fraudulent goods, and other problems. The use of friend groups also means that WeChat shop-owners often face little or no punishment for these actions, as their friends won't report them.
Li Wen, team leader of the Internet Supervision Division of Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Inspection Corps, pointed out that shop owners cannot be relied upon alone to remove the fakes from the platform, but that WeChat itself bears the responsibility to handle this. He emphasized that proper licenses need to be issued, and the platform has to examine whether shops are qualified or not.
The biggest health threat is fake drugs, and online medicine should be specifically included into the revised Drug Administration Law, proposed Xiao Pinghui, a researcher from Renmin University of China. The new Electronic Commerce Law, currently passing through the legislative process, could regulate all aspects of the business, Xiao said.
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