Ministers consider banning under-16s from platforms amid reported misuse of messaging functions and users’ photos
In June, Hannah* listed her seven-year-old daughter’s pink swimming costume for sale on Vinted, hoping other parents surfing the reselling site would snap up the £1 offer. Her inbox pinged.
“So a little girl wore this yh [yeah]?” wrote a user with a male handle.
After sending back a barbed “What do you think?”, Hannah swiftly blocked the user and reported the incident to Vinted. She described the exchange as “disgusting” and “disturbing”.
Her experience is just one of the many innocuous listings of children and young people’s secondhand clothes on reselling apps that are attracting unwanted sexualised comments through their direct messaging function.
The Children’s Society has warned that some young users of resale sites are increasingly being asked for indecent photos in exchange for money or gifts. Some photos of young users posted on the platforms have been AI deepfaked into nudes without their consent.
In response, ministers are considering banning under-16s from platforms such as Depop, eBay and Facebook Marketplace, according to the Sunday Times, over mounting fears that their private messaging functions are the latest frontline in child exploitation.
