Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on November 17, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleFrance investigates Vinted for allowing minors access to adult content, highlighting concerns over online safety and e-commerce regulations.
PARIS (Reuters) -France's child protection agency chief Sarah El Hairy has asked the regulator to investigate second-hand clothes marketplace Vinted for failing to prevent minors accessing adult content, in another move against e-commerce giants in the country.
El Hairy asked TV and Internet regulator Arcom to probe Vinted after finding some classified ads on the platform allegedly redirected all users, even underage ones, to websites with pornographic content, she said in an interview on French TV channel France 3 on Sunday.
"Where there are children or teenagers, there are predators, and what they did this time is to use sales of ordinary objects to direct (users) towards pornographic sites," she said.
Vinted and Arcom did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
France is cracking down broadly on large foreign e-commerce leaders in an attempt to protect local retailers.
Many of these feel threatened by what they see as unfair competition from cheaper and better-marketed products on their own turf by large platforms from China such as AliExpress, Temu or Shein, or from the U.S. such as eBay or Amazon.
A consumer watchdog opened investigations against five such platforms for violating rules on selling illicit products online a few days after Shein opened its first physical store in Paris.
The French crackdown echoes similar EU initiatives such as the Thursday decision to bring forward by one year customs duties on low-value parcels arriving in the bloc in an effort to slow down the flow of goods from China.
(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi; Editing by Inti Landauro and Jan Harvey)
E-commerce refers to buying and selling goods or services using the internet. It encompasses various online transactions, including retail sales, banking, and auctions.
Consumer protection is a set of laws and regulations designed to ensure the rights of consumers are upheld, preventing unfair practices in the marketplace.
Financial regulation involves the oversight of financial institutions and markets to ensure stability, transparency, and compliance with laws to protect investors and consumers.
Online safety refers to the practice of protecting oneself from risks associated with internet use, including cyberbullying, identity theft, and exposure to inappropriate content.
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