Alibaba teams up with Chinese state to stop fakes

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is working with five government and law enforcement agencies to crackdown on counterfeits.

In the past Alibaba has been criticized for providing a platform for counterfeiters, but now the firm is to work with state agencies to tackle the problem. The agencies will work together offline to find physical sources of online goods and shut down the operations.

Alibaba will help online by spotting and taking down counterfeiter product information. At a conference attended by South China Morning Post, Alibaba CEO Jack Ma Yun called China's counterfeit problem "a spreading toxic cancer that must be dealt with."

The rhetoric follows a year in which Alibaba upped its anti-counterfeiting efforts. Last year the company passed on information involving 72 brands to police, resulting in 324 arrests and the seizure of $27m worth of items.

Speculation that the anti-counterfeiting push is being done ahead of a rumoured initial public offering were dismissed by an Alibaba executive.