France Makes Bold Move Against E-Com Platform, Wish

Google has decided to pull the plug on the e-commerce platform following a statement released by a series of French ministers. Both Google and Apple have removed the platform from its French app stores, with Microsoft Bing and France’s Qwant, delisted the website from its search engines. Google son followed suit, removing the website from its search results.

What Happened?

A joint statement has called on the government to ban the e-commerce platform, Wish due to the rising concern of counterfeit products available on the platform. The ministers have asked the government to remove Wish from popping up as a result on its search engines.

Wish is operated by a company called ContextLogic Inc., which is based in San Francisco. It’s an insanely popular platform – it has more than 500,000 merchant partners and a whopping 300 million users. Last year, French consumers spent €112 billion (AUD175 billion) online.

Despite its unwavering popularity, the French ministers have issued a statement declaring the platform selling’ fake, illegal, and dangerous products’ products.

The French ministers are planning to take legal action against the company after a report found that dangerous goods were sold on the platform. “We’re asking for the delisting of the site on all search engines,” said Bruno Le Maire, the Finance Minister in a radio interview.

Wish has iterated that the company has always met the demand and standards of France’s General Directorate for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF). “We are starting legal action to challenge what we consider an illegal and disproportionate act,” a statement from Wish explained.

Last year, a report on Wish found that out of a sample of 140 products, 45 percent of the toys, 62 percent of the jewellery and 90 percent of the electrical goods were dangerous. While Wish said they removed these products off the platform, they re-appeared on the site in a different form.

“To protect consumers from dangerous products sold on Wish, we have requested the delisting of its website and mobile application,” Le Maire tweeted on November 24.

Pour protéger les consommateurs des produits dangereux vendus sur Wish, nous avons demandé le déréférencement de son site internet et de son application mobile.
Notre responsabilité avec la @dgccrf est d’assurer le respect des règles de sécurité dans tous les commerces. pic.twitter.com/0ZystAVEuw

— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) November 24, 2021

The French government explained that in July it issued the e-commerce company a two-month ultimatum to stop misleading its customers about the safety measures and risks associated with some of its items.

Wish has stated that it does not have a legal obligation to govern the products on the platform but said it would be investing measures to boost higher quality products.

This comes as the European Digital Services Act is finalised, which aims to hold technology platforms accountable – this is “intended to send a strong signal” to Wish, other e-commerce platforms and online businesses.

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