Fake glucose watches expose the limits of marketplace takedowns

Smartwatches sold as non-invasive blood-glucose monitors are not merely inaccurate wellness gadgets. People who rely on a fabricated reading can take the wrong dose of insulin, drive while hypoglycaemic or delay treatment. Accurate glucose measurement currently requires blood or a sensor that penetrates the skin; consumer watches cannot derive it optically from the wrist.

netzpolitik.org found 108 results for “Blutzucker Smartwatch” on MediaMarkt.de and 37 on eBay. A watch tested by Germany’s federal consumer association produced the same values on a wrist and a banana. European authorities have issued repeated Safety Gate warnings, and assigning a medical device a function it does not possess violates the EU Medical Devices Regulation.

The revealing part is how the marketplaces reacted. MediaMarkt’s search fell from 108 results to seven after the newsroom contacted its press office; the company said it removed the identified offers and introduced an additional quality check. During the reporting period, its ordinary product-reporting function repeatedly returned errors, which the company disputed. eBay removed the specifically reported listing only after a press inquiry, while other glucose-claiming watches remained. Amazon initially declined to remove a reported watch and kept it for sale.

The Digital Services Act requires accessible notice systems and gives reports from certified “trusted flaggers” priority. Yet the Bundesnetzagentur explains that even trusted flaggers have no deletion power; the platform retains the decision. This case shows the weakness of a complaint-led system for repeatable health fraud: sellers can relist near-identical products faster than users or journalists can report them. High-risk medical claims need pre-publication checks and product identity that survives a seller-name change, not a faster version of whack-a-mole.