The Wish site, specializing in the sale of items at low prices, will be dereferenced from the French web. The reason ? The sale of dangerous products.
Wish, deleted from the French web? It seems that the authorities are determined to slow down the giant of the sale at discounted prices. According to information from the newspaper Le Parisien, the General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) will dereference Wish.
This means that, within a few days, Google, Apple and Microsoft will no longer redirect Internet users to the American website during a search. Please note, this does not mean that Wish is deleted from the French Internet: you will have to type the full address directly in the search bar to access it. A source tells Le Parisien that this decision follows an investigation conducted over a year by the DGCCRF. “We sampled 140 products on the site and most of them were non-compliant, even dangerous.“, explains the source to Bercy to the newspaper. Still according to the media, 95% of the toys analyzed were not in conformity with the advertisement and 45% turned out to be dangerous.”Some toys were made with small parts that came off too easily, at the risk of being ingested and causing suffocation to the little ones.“, adds Bercy. Many other objects, in particular electrical, have also proved to be dangerous.
Wish is not putting sufficient measures in place
In addition to questionable business practices, Wish does not appear to be prepared to put measures in place to keep buyers safe. Indeed, according to Le Parisien, the agents of the DGCCRF have repeatedly asked the site to remedy the situation. “When we notified them that a product was unsafe, they were required to remove the ad within 24 hours. They removed the targeted ad in most cases. But they were not doing anything to prevent the item from reappearing through other sellers. Or, even worse, be reposted by the same seller“, we say on a daily basis.
These measures against Wish are unprecedented in Europe. However, the DGCCRF does not exclude the total ban on the domain in France, if the sales giant does not put good will into it. Le Parisien, assures us that a legal procedure is being investigated for “deceptive commercial practices”.