ENFORCEMENT
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Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement<br />
SECTION 2<br />
FIG. 39: Enforcement Activity Suggests the Scope of<br />
Problem Is Large. 57<br />
TIP OF THE ICEBERG (WHAT WE SEE):<br />
• Operation Watch: One not-for-profit trade<br />
association identified the availability of over<br />
30,000 individual images of counterfeit goods on<br />
one social media platform in just one day<br />
• Operation Jasper: Law enforcement in the<br />
United Kingdom took down over 4,300 social<br />
media listings featuring counterfeit products<br />
over the course of a few weeks. Since its launch,<br />
the operation has seen over 95,000 images of<br />
counterfeit goods removed from social platforms.<br />
• A study estimated that approximately one<br />
quarter of ads on one leading social media site<br />
were for counterfeit goods<br />
BELOW THE SURFACE (THE DANGERS OF WHAT<br />
WE DON’T KNOW):<br />
• Size and scope by the issue, by platform<br />
and industry<br />
• Associated illicit activity, such as PII theft<br />
and other consumer frauds<br />
According to one United Kingdom law enforcement<br />
report, social media has recently overtaken online<br />
auction sites as criminals’ “channel-of-choice” for<br />
counterfeit and piracy activity. 56<br />
Rogue actors operating in social media channels<br />
seek to deceive consumers in a number of relevant<br />
ways. These methods include: using social media<br />
tools to generate web traffic and divert consumers to<br />
websites selling their infringing products; using in-site<br />
“buy buttons” facilitating purchases directly from page<br />
posts and ads; relying on pseudonymous product<br />
reviews, blog entries and fabricated social media profiles<br />
to provide an aura of legitimacy; and using links and<br />
paid-for advertising space on social media platforms to<br />
generate illicit profits through the unlawful exploitation<br />
of third-party content. 58<br />
On the content-side, it has been reported that in<br />
the first quarter of 2015 alone, 725 of the 1,000 most<br />
watched videos on a leading U.S.-based social media<br />
site were unauthorized re-uploads from other mediahosting<br />
websites, generating a total of 17 billion<br />
misappropriated views in this short period. 59 These<br />
unauthorized re-uploads threaten the livelihood of<br />
original content creators and the artistic community<br />
as it deprives them of payment for their works, while<br />
simultaneously creating the possibility that unwarranted<br />
profits will be generated by social media channels<br />
through paid-for advertising featured alongside such<br />
unauthorized copyrighted content. 60<br />
Going forward, industry and policymakers must work<br />
together to address copyright infringement facilitated<br />
through the use of social media channels. In light of<br />
the volume of traffic and the complexity of the issues<br />
(including free speech and privacy rights of social media<br />
users), coupled with the threats to public health and<br />
safety (such as with the sale of fake medicines) and<br />
infringement of copyrights, the social media industry<br />
has an important role to play to establish meaningful<br />
standards and best practices to curb illicit activities on<br />
their respective platforms, while protecting the rights and<br />
ability of users to use those platforms for non-infringing<br />
and other lawful activities.<br />
ACTION NO. 2.13: Encourage the<br />
development of industry standards and best<br />
practices, through a multistakeholder process,<br />
to curb abuses of social media channels for<br />
illicit purposes, while protecting the rights of<br />
users to use those channels for non-infringing<br />
and other lawful activities. Social media<br />
platforms generally have terms of services<br />
prohibiting unlawful practices, and opportunities<br />
exist to enhance express prohibitions with<br />
respect to copyright infringement and the<br />
promotion and sale of counterfeit merchandise,<br />
72