The Dubai Department of Economic Development (DED) has shut down 4,879 social media accounts and 30 websites because of online businesses violating their rules and policies as they were selling commodities that were counterfeit during the first half of 2018.

The Commercial Compliance and Consumer Protection sector in DED announced that such accounts had a cumulative 33.5 million followers and that the representatives of the DED worked hard with the representatives of the brand and such websites to close all such accounts. The move is in part to protect owners of brands and e-commerce from negative phenomena.

Ebrahim Behzad, director of Intellectual Property Rights Protection Management at DED, said: “Social networking accounts have come in handy for many who trade in counterfeit goods nowadays but the IPR team maintains a tight vigil to prevent such misuse of modern technology and protect the reputation of Dubai as a competitive business hub.”

He added: “Our team works for 24 hours to keep monitoring social networking sites and digital platforms used for promoting and selling fake goods and counterfeit commodities.”

Behzad also pointed that, “Counterfeit items had been offered online that included bags, perfumes, watches, accessories, cosmetic products and others.” Further adding, “We have closed shops and warehouses that were found to sell fake goods.”