Amazon sues TikTok and Instagram influencers for allegedly selling fake luxury goods
Amazon sued 13 people and businesses on Thursday, including social media influencers Kelly Fitzpatrick and Sabrina Kelly-Krejci, alleging that they were using Amazon’s marketplace to sell fake luxury goods they would advertise on platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
The two influencers would allegedly post links to Amazon listings for generic products, like wallets and purses, with no logo. With captions like “order this” and “get this,” they’d tell followers that the so-called “hidden links” were actually listings for products with fake logos from brands like Gucci and Disney, which violate Amazon’s policies against counterfeit goods, according to the complaint filed in Washington federal court.
Fitzpatrick didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry from Fast Company.
Kelly-Krejci declined to comment saying she hadn’t yet seen Amazon’s legal filing.
“These defendants were brazen about promoting counterfeits on social media and undermined the work of legitimate influencers,” said Cristina Posa, associate general counsel and director of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, in a statement.
Amazon says that in 2019, it “invested more than $500 million to protect customers and brands from fraud, abuse, and counterfeit,” including through tools to let brands spot and seek removal of counterfeit items on the platform.
The company is asking for a court order to block the defendants from selling anything through its platform, or even advertising and linking to goods for sale there, as well as the profit they made selling counterfeit items there.
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