Wish will no longer be searchable after violating regulations "annoyed" French authorities

Recently, several French ministers issued a joint statement announcing that they have asked major search engines and mobile application stores operating in France to completely hide Wish's website and mobile application on the grounds of selling fake products.

In France, the e-commerce market was worth about 112 billion euros in 2020. Wish, an e-commerce site known for selling gadgets and cheap jewelry, is the sixth most visited e-commerce site in the country, according to market and audience research group Mediamétrie.

The statement said that last year, the French General Directorate for Consumer Rights and the Fight against Fraud ( DGCCRF) investigated Wish. The authorities ordered 140 different products on Wish, most of which were imported products. The investigation found that 95% of toys did not comply with European regulations, and 45% were considered dangerous; 95% of electrical appliances were non-compliant, of which 90% were considered dangerous; similarly, 62% of clothing and jewelry were also included in the "dangerous" list.

When Wish is notified of dangerous goods being sold on the platform, the products are removed within 24 hours. However, the French Economy Ministry said that in most cases the products are still available under different names, sometimes even from the same seller.

In July of this year, DGCCRF notified Wish and required it to rectify its platform in accordance with relevant European e-commerce and product safety regulations within two months.

However, four months later, the French authorities believed that Wish had not fulfilled this requirement and decided to strike hard, using the latest changes in European regulations (the ban will require suppliers to make a graded response to access the Internet or platform based on the severity of the observed facts. In the most serious cases, the problematic e-commerce websites and applications will be removed or blocked) to impose penalties.

This means that Wish will be restricted in France. Foreign media analysis said that the Wish website will still be available, and if the user has the app installed on their phone, they can still use it, but users will not see Wish in the search results of the app store or search engine.

In response, a Wish spokesperson said: "The platform has always complied with the DGCCRF's removal requests, so we are confused by the excessive approach in this matter. We have repeatedly tried to engage constructively with the DGCCRF. We are now actively seeking legal recourse to challenge what we believe to be illegal and disproportionate actions taken by the DGCCRF."

France has asked search engines and app stores to remove the entry of the e-commerce platform Wish, which is the first of its kind in Europe. In fact, this is a wake-up call for other e-commerce platforms and sellers.

The DGCCRF has been conducting annual inspections of goods sold on online marketplaces since 2018. In October, the agency released its 2020 results, which showed that more than 60% of the 129 products tested on France's 10 leading e-commerce platforms did not comply with consumer protection rules, and 32% of the products were actually dangerous. The DGCCRF did not name the platforms, but a ranking of the most visited websites last year showed that Amazon, CDiscount, Wish, eBay and other platforms were in the top 10.

At the same time, Europe is also advancing its laws and regulations on e-commerce. Europe is expected to adopt the Digital Services Act to comprehensively revise the e-commerce directive from 2000.

Various signs indicate that Europe's regulation of the e-commerce market will become increasingly strict, and sellers should not think of taking shortcuts. "Quality first" is the hard truth.

Wish

France

Compliance