TikTok Introduces Counterfeit Protection

By Brittany Siminitz | May 18, 2026

If you have ambitions to be the premier social media shopping platform—as TikTok does—you’re going to have to contend with people selling counterfeit goods. Thus, TikTok recently announced a program to combat the problem.

“Counterfeit trade is an increasingly sophisticated challenge for brands and shows no signs of slowing,” TikTok said in its announcement of TikTok Real, a “creativity protection” program. “In 2025, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported that global trade in fake goods reached $467 billion annually, posing risks to consumer safety and compromising intellectual property. Counterfeit goods can impact sales, but that’s not all. Brands can also pay the price in higher legal expenses, erosion of brand equity, and a weakened brand reputation.”

TikTok Real was introduced to more than 300 IP experts during the International Trademark Association (INTA) annual meeting in London earlier this month. It is currently available to approximately 200 brands, but TikTok said more will be invited on a rolling basis.

The new program streamlines the entire process for challenging counterfeit goods, from notice and takedown (NTD) to removal for trademark infringement, according to TikTok. With TikTok Real, the social app has strengthened proactive detection capabilities and monitoring for suspicious listings. Participants can access new features in TikTok Shop’s Intellectual Property Protection Center (IPPC), including a brand verification module that allows companies to review and confirm brand authorizations submitted by sellers.

TikTok noted that in the first half of 2025, “evolving technologies and systems that collect multiple attributes in order to flag potential infringing content and products” resulted in the platform’s rejections of more than 70 million product listings.

The jewelry trade knows as well as any industry about the damage counterfeiting can do, so a program like TikTok Real should be wildly beneficial to jewelry brands and their customers.