US adds WeChat, AliExpress to notorious piracy market list

US authorities added China companies WeChat and AliExpress to its list of markets that facilitate counterfeiting and piracy. — REUTERS/File Photo

The US added Chinese messaging platform WeChat and online marketplace AliExpress to its list of notorious markets for counterfeiting and piracy, an annual compilation of the worst intellectual-property abusers and counterfeiters.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.-owned AliExpress and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s WeChat are "two significant China-based online markets that reportedly facilitate substantial trademark counterfeiting,” the Office of the US Trade Representative said in a statement accompanying the release of the 2021 review Thursday.