The British government is considering a ban on individuals under the age of 16 from using online marketplaces such as Depop, eBay, and Facebook Marketplace. The proposal follows mounting concerns that the private messaging features on these platforms are being exploited to target children, according to reports in the Sunday Times. According to ministers consider banning under-16s from online marketplaces amid, Misuse of messaging functions and users’ photos.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy confirmed on Sunday that the government is seriously evaluating an expansion of existing social media age restrictions to include these digital resale sites. Official regulations were reportedly submitted for cabinet approval this week, with Nandy expected to present the measures to parliament in December.
The issue has gained urgency after numerous incidents where children and young adults faced harassment. In one instance, a mother named Hannah listed her seven-year-old daughter’s swimming costume on Vinted for £1. She was quickly messaged by a user with a male handle who asked, “So a little girl wore this yh [yeah]?” Hannah described the experience as “disturbing” and “disgusting” before blocking the individual and reporting the account. 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. According to after sending back a barbed “What do you think?”, Hannah swiftly blocked the user and, The incident to Vinted. We take action, up to a permanent ban or reporting to the relevant authorities.”, when we identify inappropriate behaviour.
The Children’s Society has warned that young people on these platforms are increasingly being solicited for indecent images in exchange for gifts or money.
Reports also indicate that photos of minors are being harvested and converted into non-consensual AI-generated nude images.
A user named Lucy, who began selling clothes on Depop at 15, shared that she was once asked if she would include used underwear in a sale for a higher price. She later discovered that her childhood images had been scraped from the app and shared on Reddit, and eventually found that her stolen photos had been manipulated into deepfake pornography on Discord. Young women have posted on TikTok and Reddit about their concerning interactions with buyers. Or unsolicited sexual comments about their appearance, those exchanges include asking the seller if the item will come with used underwear if they buy it. Lucy* started reselling her pre-loved clothes on Depop when she was 15 and has been subject to many unsettling experiences. Once, she listed an item of clothing for about £10 and a user requested to raise the price. “The person had changed it to £30 and said: ‘If you include your pants I’ll pay more’,” she said. “That made me feel like, oh my God, awful.”.
Current age policies vary across platforms. Vinted officially requires users to be 18, though data from the communications watchdog Ofcom suggests that 15% of children aged eight to 14 visit the site monthly. Depop requires users to be at least 13 to create an account and 18 for integrated payment systems. Campaigners like Karen Garland of the Marie Collins Foundation have cautioned that blanket bans might inadvertently isolate vulnerable young people who rely on these spaces, suggesting that “safer by design” environments should be prioritized instead. Vinted, which has a minimum age of 18, would have to join the other sites in gating access with strict age verification features. According to vinted, Minors can only access the site under the supervision of adult account holders, while Depop says users must be aged 13 or over to set up an account, and over 18 to use PayPal and the Depop payment systems. Ho.
In response to these allegations, major platforms have defended their safety measures. A Vinted spokesperson stated the company maintains a zero-tolerance policy for explicit content, utilizing a mix of automated detection tools and human moderation. An eBay representative noted that the site encourages users to keep communications on the platform and avoid sharing personal contact details. Meanwhile, Depop emphasized that its terms strictly prohibit the unauthorized use or sharing of images and that they have robust protocols in place to protect their community. Which explicitly prohibits users from using or sharing another user’s content without their consent, whether on Depop or elsewhere, depop said: “Using someone’s images without their permission is a violation of our terms of service.
Despite the potential risks, some users like Lucy remain conflicted, acknowledging that for some young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, these apps provide a necessary source of income. However, she emphasized that the threat of online exploitation does not disappear once an individual reaches adulthood, noting that she continues to encounter sexualized images of herself online years later. “These pictures are actually still being resurfaced on these Reddit pages, which is quite frustrating,” she said. “It would be me at 17 trying to sell a bikini, and these men have screenshotted these images … It’s not ju. Really upset.”, she said: “It’s deplorable that people think it’s acceptable to take people’s images and make them into AI porn – I felt really. According to she, As she was now 25 and has continued to find sexualised images of herself online,, the risk did not end at 18.
