Controlling Alibaba$$s Problem with Counterfeits

Alibaba may be barely known outside China, but today this Chinese e$-$commerce company is growing by leaps and bounds. To further fund the growth it seeks at home and abroad, Alibaba recently raised $$25$ billion from its IPO, listing itself in the United States. It employs about $100,000$ people and posted revenues of over $$37$ billion in $2018,$ with over $600$ million users annually. Alibaba reports approximately $$550$ billion in annual sales on its sites, which is more than all the online sales combined in the United States.

Alibaba$$s founder Jack Ma has promised to expand his company$$s toehold in the United States. He stresses that his company will remain true to its stated principles, which put customers first, employees second, and shareholders third. $$Our philosophy is that we want to be an ecosystem,$$ he says. $$Our philosophy is to empower others to sell, empower others to service, making sure the other people are more powerful than us$....$

Counterfeit goods that have long plagued Alibaba$$s retail platforms. One of their sites, Taobao, was placed on a U$.$S$.$ government watch list of $$notorious markets$$ in $2012.$ Alibaba responded with efforts to combat fakes$$hiring a staff of $2,000$ and enlisting $5,000$ volunteers to help identify counterfeit goods, setting aside $150$ million yuan $($almost $$22$ million$)$ to buy and test suspected fakes, and designing algorithms that help spot fakes by monitoring hundreds of data such as price. The company also invested in a $$2\mathrm{.}4$ million lobbying effort in Washington to seek removal from the list. While the removal effort initially paid off, in $2016$ Taobao was again placed on the watch list and again in $2018.$ Alibaba has become more aggressive in addressing counterfeiting by suing these vendors. In $2019,$ Alibaba claimed success, reporting that only $1$ out of every $10,000$ transactions was suspected of being counterfeit goods.

Answer the following question:

What is Alibaba$$s ethical responsibility for controlling the sale of counterfeit goods on its websites?