‘Superfakes’ Sold Online to Americans to Get Closer Look From US Trade Officials

Have you ever been convinced by a great-looking “dupe” or “replica” product by somebody you follow on social media, or wondered if the ad you just clicked on was legit?

You’re not alone. The US Trade Representative recently closed the comment docket for its 2026 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy, which focuses this year on “high-quality counterfeit trademark goods known as superfakes or superclones.”The USTR’s Notorious Markets List, or NML, is typically aimed at foreign actors and marketplaces outside the US that undermine American businesses. But recently the USTR has been asked to take a closer look at US-based tech giants and their marketplaces, too. Last year, without officially adding them to the list, the USTR noted the increasing popularity of social media influencers who review, promote and share links to counterfeit luxury products, using platforms like TikTok, Facebook and Instagram.

“As with other markets listed in the Notorious Markets List, stakeholders raised concerns with the high volume of counterfeit products available in these marketplaces, fraudulent advertisements and popular influencers promoting counterfeit goods, and ineffective enforcement measures to limit counterfeit sales and deter repeat offenders,” the USTR said in its 2025 report.Read More: Vinted Pledges to Crack Down on Looted Goods After French RiotsRecently, secondhand marketplace Vinted agreed to increase the policing of its listings after seeing an increase of items suspected to have been looted during riots in France, the country’s finance ministry said. Several other online platforms including Amazon.com, eBay, Meta and TikTok agreed to share data with French law enforcement and scour listings for items with security tags still attached.

‘Tip of the Iceberg’

That’s just one example of how quickly stolen and counterfeit goods can find a buyer. A new report from the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade, or TRACIT, details how the explosion of a largely unregulated, global web of online marketplaces has created vulnerabilities for brands — and myriad risks for consumers.

“Today, counterfeiting is just the tip of the iceberg,” the report said. “Criminal activities have deepened to include the unauthorized sale of regulated products, the laundering of stolen goods, the circumvention of consumer health and safety laws, and the sale of products that violate product safety regulations.” In rebuttal comment filed Oct. 22, Meta highlighted the artificial intelligence tools it’s deploying to combat illicit trade, and said calls for its platforms to be included on the USTR’s Notorious Markets List were misleading.

“The fact that Meta’s services reach beyond the United States does not transform Meta Platforms Inc. — a US-headquartered company — into a foreign actor,” the company said. “We strictly prohibit counterfeiting, piracy and other forms of IP infringement on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, WhatsApp and our other services.”

Self-PolicingIn the absence of robust laws governing online marketplaces, several US-based platforms tout their own policies on seller-verification requirements, licensing obligations or enforcement procedures.

Enforcement of those terms is inconsistent, though, and sales of counterfeit goods is only a small part of the picture, according to Jeff Hardy, director-general of TRACIT.In the meantime, TRACIT is developing scorecards for individual platforms based on what they say they’re doing to keep illicit goods off their marketplaces. The first grade will likely be issued to IndiaMART— India’s largest business-to-business online marketplace — in March next year.Read More: Fake Obesity Shots and Unapproved Drugs Mar India’s Weight-Loss Boom

“We’re going to assign a grade from A to F on whether they’re complying with what they’ve said they’re doing on their terms of reference,” Hardy said. “The commitments are hollow. There’s going to be a lot of bad scores.”

—Laura Curtis in Los Angeles

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Charted Territory

Surging imports | The US merchandise-trade deficit widened in September for a third straight month amid an ongoing surge in imports of capital goods. The shortfall in goods trade grew 2.1% from the prior month to $134.9 billion, the largest since March 2025, Commerce Department data showed. The value of merchandise imports rose 2.4%, while exports advanced 2.6%. Imports of capital goods — a category that includes the computers and accessories, semiconductors and telecommunications equipment fueling the AI buildout — jumped 7.5% to a new record.

Today’s Must Reads

Echoing rival UPS’ optimism earlier this week, FedEx raised profit and sales guidance for the year, another promising sign for parcel carriers heading into the all-important holiday shipping season.Cosco Shipping earnings jumped the most in two years as persistent geopolitical disruptions rerouted trade, tying up more of its vessels for longer while container rates surged.Trump delayed tariffs on robotics and industrial machinery, instead directing officials to hold talks with trading partners on those goods.The fight for control of the US Senate has expanded to an unexpected place: the deeply conservative farm state of Nebraska. Copper is “sold out everywhere,” said Xiao Chuankang, an analyst at Shanghai-based consultancy Mysteel Global. Uncertainty around Trump’s tariff plans has arguably become the main driver for the metal this year.Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to expand trade with Africa and attacked the West’s relationship with the continent as he hosted dozens of leaders at a Moscow summit.The European Union removed language from a draft summit declaration calling for Canada to become the bloc’s first “associate member” after some EU countries resisted the term given the lack of detail about what that would entail. Shein says a delay in renewals for Mexican shipping partners’ permits is putting its business in the country at risk.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was pressed by leaders in Japan and Singapore on EU policies that would favor regional content in the auto industry — and that the issue would have to be addressed.

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