AAFA Urges USTR to List U.S. Platforms for Counterfeiting

Call for Accountability on U.S. Platforms

On October 7, the AAFA submitted comments to the USTR, advocating for the inclusion of Facebook, Instagram, Alibaba.com, AliExpress, and DHgate in the upcoming Notorious Markets List [IPWatchdog]. This is a critical step for safeguarding intellectual property rights globally. While Alibaba and DHgate platforms have appeared on the list previously, Facebook and Instagram have largely avoided such accountability, according to the AAFA [IPWatchdog]. The association emphasized that excluding domestic platforms provides an “implicit license to profit from the sale of counterfeit products” to consumers both in the U.S. and globally [IPWatchdog], undermining the value of original invention and brand efforts.

“USTR must list domestic platforms, as comments dictate, to keep dangerous counterfeits off marketplaces and out of American homes.”

— AAFA

Prevalence and Dangers of Counterfeits

Apparel, footwear, and accessories consistently rank among the top commodities seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In Fiscal Year 2025, these items dominated the top 10 categories [IPWatchdog]. The AAFA conducted tests on 39 counterfeit products, revealing that 41% failed U.S. and international product safety standards [IPWatchdog]. These failures were due to the presence of hazardous chemicals such as phthalates, lead, formaldehyde, and nickel. Notably, at least 25% of these unsafe products were purchased or marketed through Meta-owned platforms [IPWatchdog].

Challenges in Brand Protection on Meta Platforms

Fraudulent advertising, often impersonating legitimate brands, remains a significant issue for AAFA members on Meta platforms [IPWatchdog], posing a direct threat to brand intellectual property. A November 2025 Reuters investigation cited in the AAFA's letter estimated that Meta platforms hosted 15 billion “higher risk” scam advertisements daily, generating approximately $7 billion in annualized revenue [IPWatchdog]. One member reported having to repeatedly submit reports for nearly 800 distinct Facebook pages, leading to roughly 2,000 submissions between February and June 2026 [IPWatchdog]. Another member removed over 120,000 counterfeit products and over 24,000 fraudulent advertisements on Facebook and Instagram in the first six months of 2026 [IPWatchdog]. Meta’s Brand Rights Protection (BRP) tool, which caps takedown requests at 100 pieces of content or accounts, was noted as a limitation. During two weeks in September 2026, a member measured a mean of 22 days for removal on Facebook, versus three days on Instagram [IPWatchdog]. Searches in September 2026 for a popular T-shirt on Facebook showed 100% counterfeit items, with hundreds found weekly; Instagram searches yielded thousands [IPWatchdog].

Varying Performance of Other Marketplaces

For Alibaba platforms, one member found Alibaba.com to be about 95% clean in keyword searches in September; another reported 90% of URLs removed in the first six months of 2026 [IPWatchdog]. However, a different member identified approximately 1,200 infringing listings on Alibaba.com between November 2025 and August 2026, linked to about 550 unique sellers and an estimated $500,000 in revenue [IPWatchdog]. On AliExpress, one member found the platform about 90% clean in keyword searches, and another reported about 95% of listings removed [IPWatchdog]. A third member identified approximately 3,000 infringing listings across the AliExpress ecosystem, with about 73,000 items sold earning sellers almost $320,000 [IPWatchdog]. AliExpress was fined 550 million euros by the European Commission on July 20 for breaching the Digital Services Act [IPWatchdog]. For DHgate, removal rates varied, from approximately 70% to almost 99% in the first six months of 2026 [IPWatchdog]. The IP Protection Portal at brand.dhgate.com was noted as a useful reporting mechanism [IPWatchdog].

Future of Brand Protection and Innovation

AAFA members identified artificial intelligence as a significant year-over-year change, used to create fraudulent ads, fake websites, product descriptions, and social media content [IPWatchdog]. This highlights a new challenge for innovation in brand protection. The rise of high-quality counterfeits, or “superfakes,” alongside low-quality products was also reported [IPWatchdog]. This underscores the ongoing need for robust intellectual property protection for every new invention, a concern for every inventor and startup. AAFA recommended seller and advertiser verification, a publicly shared repeat infringer policy, and connecting WhatsApp with Meta's BRP tool [IPWatchdog]. The association asserts that platforms should face “equivalent liabilities” to brick-and-mortar businesses for promoting and selling counterfeit products [IPWatchdog]. This ongoing battle for patent rights and brand integrity is frequently covered in patent news and publications like The Patent® magazine.

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