Authorities in France are investigating allegations that sellers of swimwear or lingerie on second-hand clothing platform Vinted are luring viewers to their personal OnlyFans pages.
France’s Children’s Rights Commission told French media it had asked watchdog Arcom to examine the allegations.
Vinted has 23 million users in France and no age-verification procedure, risking the exposure of pornographic content to children and teenagers as they did not have to show proof they were over 18.
The Lithuania-based company said in a statement it had a “zero-tolerance policy regarding unsolicited communications of a sexual nature or the promotion of sexual services”.
“All inappropriate and illegal content is removed, and where necessary we take measures against users, including blocking them definitively from our site,” Vinted said in a statement to AFP news agency.
The company added it was taking the situation very seriously.
French media first reported that some sellers were showing photographs of swimwear or lingeries and lured viewers to their personal pages on adult platforms.
Children’s Rights Commissioner Sarah El-Haïry confirmed the platform was being inappropriately used.
“Predators have been using the sale of ordinary items of clothing to direct people to porn sites,” she said.
Other global e-commerce platforms, such as Singaporean headquartered company Shein, have already been warned by France as it was found to be selling childlike sex dolls.
French officials confirmed the case was part of a wider investigation. Other major platforms such as AliExpress have also been accused of allowing illicit products to be sold online.
Paris prosecutors are examining whether Shein, AliExpress, Temu and Wish have breached laws relating to violent, pornographic or “undignified” content being accessible to minors.
In a separate investigation, Shein and AliExpress are being investigated for its alleged dissemination of child-related pornographic material. The Paris Office des Mineurs, which deals with the protection of children, has had the case referred to it to investigate.
Shein said it has banned the sale of sex dolls on its platform worldwide and permanently blocked seller accounts linked to the items.
The French consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said descriptions of the dolls left "little doubt as to their child-pornography nature".
Earlier this year, the European Commission said Temu was not doing enough to assess the risks of illegal products being sold online and could be in breach of a new digital services law.
The commission said on July 28 that there was a “high risk” of consumers in the EU encountering illegal products on the e-commerce giant’s platform.
Specifically, analysis of a mystery shopping exercise conducted by the commission found that consumers shopping on Temu were very likely to find non-compliant products, including baby toys and small electronics.
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