PARIS — French Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire will take legal action against search engines that fail to delist online marketplace Wish within the next few days, he said Monday.
“I give them a few more days, the benefit of the doubt. Then it’s simple, I’ll bring the case to court and they will be convicted,” he told TV station France 2.
Last week, the government announced the California-based platform would be removed from search engines and app stores for flouting consumer protection rules and failing to reply to the requests coming from the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF in French).
Tech companies have until early this week to delist the e-commerce website. According to La Tribune, French search engine Qwant has removed the online marketplace from its search results as of last week. After Le Maire’s warning, Google’s app store Google Play and Apple’s App Store also did.
Wish is “pursuing legal recourse” against the DGCCRF.
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