Vinted and eBay could be included in the list of platforms set to be banned for children aged under 16, the culture secretary has said.
Lisa Nandy said the government was “looking seriously” at including the retailing websites in the social media ban “to keep children safe”.
The UK’s social media ban for under-16s is set to come into force in March next year, with children barred from accessing platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.
In response, eBay said it was looking forward to “understanding more and continuing to work constructively with the government”. Vinted said it welcomed “open dialogue” with ministers and the regulator on the issue.
Asked on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme whether the government was looking to ban under-16s from Vinted and eBay, Nandy said: “We are looking seriously at doing so in order to keep children safe.”
It came after the Sunday Times reported, external that the UK’s social media ban was being expanded to include the popular second-hand online marketplaces.
The move was due to fears that messaging functions on the platforms allowed strangers to groom children, according to the newspaper. It suggested similar reselling platforms, Depop and Facebook Marketplace, would also be included in the list of banned sites.
Businesses and individuals sell a host of goods on eBay, which has been a major global player in the online reselling market for years. The platform states on its website that it currently requires all of its members to be over 18 years old because listings involve “entering into a contract”.
Vinted is aimed at over 18s, but its terms and conditions do allow parents or guardians to create accounts for their children, which must be used under parental supervision.
The site, on which users mostly buy and sell unwanted clothes and other fashion items, has grown rapidly recently to reach 17 million UK users.
A Vinted spokesperson said direct messaging was “part of how the platform works” but that it had a “zero tolerance for harmful or explicit content” and had moderation teams and tools to spot and remove “activity that breaks our rules”.
“When we identify inappropriate behaviour, we take action, up to a permanent ban or reporting to the relevant authorities,” they said.
An eBay spokesperson said the company was “focused on providing a trusted and safe marketplace experience for our millions of customers”.
“While the details of the proposed legislation are not yet clear, we look forward to understanding more and continuing to work constructively with the government,” they added.
