WeChat has tightened its anti-counterfeit measures with 38 improvements to its Brand Protection Platform revealed in its annual Brand Owner Protection report released yesterday.

WeChat claims more than 72,000 vendors were punished last year for attempting to sell counterfeit goods on its platforms.

WeChat has also standardised the online infringement complaint system to make it easier for companies and individuals to report offenders.

The WeChat team collected more than 126,000 valid infringement clues through user complaints on its Brand Protection Platform, 99.9 per cent of which led to crackdowns facilitated by brand owners.

Fake-selling had even been occuring on so-called ‘mini programs’. As of early February, 976 mini programs have been permanently banned by WeChat. More than 22,300 infringing links and pieces of content have been removed.

WeChat’s monthly active users reached 1 billion worldwide last week.

More than 180 domestic and foreign enterprises from 18 countries and regions covering more than 400 well-known trademarks at home and abroad have registered on WeChat’s Brand Protection Platform. Most of the registered enterprises are from the US, China, Switzerland, Japan and France.