SoftBank-backed e-commerce firm Meesho on August 2 announced that it had deactivated 42 lakh counterfeit listings and 10 lakh restricted products in the past six months under its 'Project Suraksha.’
In its statement, Meesho said it has come up with 'Project Suraksha', an umbrella initiative that has been introduced for additional proactive mechanisms and technology tools to identify, block and remove counterfeits.
The firm said this year its systems identified and blocked over 12,000 bad actor accounts from accessing the platform. It added that its 'Suraksha List' comprised approximately 1,800 high-risk brands vulnerable to infringement and counterfeiting. “Non-compliant listings have seen an 80 percent reduction since February, now representing a mere 0.1 percent of platform views,” the firm said.
According to an official cited by PTI, the total deactivated products account for less than 5 percent of the total products listed on
Meesho's platform.
Explaining how the AI tools work, Sanjeev Barnwal, Founder and CTO at Meesho, said, “For example, text-based recognition and image OCR scans product images to extract text and brand logos for thorough checks. This helps us in identifying infringing and counterfeit products by investigating proof of authorisations and determining authenticity.”
Barnwal added that Meesho also has a dedicated quality and compliance team that proactively cross-verifies automated signals and in turn, enables it to combat fraudulent practices which builds trust with users.
Meanwhile, Meesho CXO for Business, Utkrishta Kumar said, "In technology, enhancing quality checks, and forming strategic brand partnerships, we have significantly improved our ability to detect counterfeit products and protect our users from potential harm."
