This is a new defeat for Wish, a platform well known by Internet users, now banned from the Web after the sanctions taken by the Ministry of Economy at the end of 2021. Last year, and after a report by the DGCCRF that pointed out the many frauds and the large number of dangerous products distributed by the company, the government had enforced the removal of the Wish site from search engines and the banning of its application from the App Store and Google Play Store. On October 21, the Constitutional Council confirms the merits of this decision.
Dereferencing, in the face of a block?
The company, already dismissed by the Paris administrative court, had then submitted to the Constitutional Council an application for annulment of the decision, based on freedom of expression, but also on freedom of enterprise. Apprehended last July, the Constitutional Council finally refuted these arguments in a press release.
“The Constitutional Council resolves that, in the first place, by adopting the contested provisions, the legislator intended to reinforce the protection of consumers and guarantee the fairness of online commercial transactions. Thus, he pursued an objective of general interest”, says the institution.
In its decision, the Constitutional Council recalls that Wish had demanded that the sanctions be limited in time, and that they only apply to manifestly illegal content. So many arguments that were not accepted.
If the sanction against Wish is strong, the platform remains technically accessible from France, as long as you manually enter the site address in your browser. The next step could therefore be a total blockade of its activity in France. However, other competing apps are still available in all app stores.
Source: BFM TV
