A popular online marketplace is facing serious criticism after a seller posted blatantly antisemitic messages on their product listings, with the platform initially refusing to take the content down.
Shocking Discovery on the Marketplace
Justine, a 55-year-old from Portsmouth, was browsing the Vinted app when she made a horrifying discovery. While scrolling to "kill some time," she encountered a listing for a knitted pouffe footstool from a seller called 'stefsbitsforsale'. In the product description, the seller had written "No jews allowed".
Further investigation by The Mirror revealed a second listing from the same account, this time for a stamp set, which included the phrase "dont be a jew" in its description. Justine described her immediate reaction as one of shock, initially wondering if it could be a typo before realising the awful truth of the deliberate hate speech.
Vinted's Initial Inaction Sparks Fury
Appalled by what she saw, Justine promptly reported the listings to Vinted. The response she received the following morning left her stunned. In a message seen by The Mirror, Vinted stated: "After careful consideration, we found that since the content you reported doesn't violate our community standards, we couldn't take action against stefsbitsforsale."
Instead of removing the account or the listings, the platform advised Justine to block the user so they would no longer be part of her Vinted experience. "It totally threw me. I didn't expect that at all," Justine said. She had anticipated the company would take swift action, potentially banning the seller, but was met with what she perceived as indifference.
Community Guidelines Contradiction and Final Action
This response appeared to directly contradict Vinted's own publicly available community guidelines. The rules explicitly state: "There’s no room for discrimination or hate speech towards others, including but not limited to their race, ethnicity, nationality, disability, religious affiliation..." The guidelines warn that violations can lead to accounts being blocked temporarily or permanently.
Justine, a regular Vinted user who had never encountered such content before, condemned the initial decision. "This is a disgusting thing to let it go," she said, adding that the incident made her question what the seller might be posting on other platforms. She also noted the seller's anonymity, with a profile picture showing only a helmet, calling them a "coward" for spreading hate speech while hiding their identity.
The listing for the footstool had been 'liked' by nine other users, indicating that the antisemitic message could have been seen by multiple people before action was taken.
The account was ultimately blocked and the listings removed only after The Mirror contacted Vinted for comment on Thursday evening. In a subsequent statement, a Vinted spokesperson said: "Hateful and discriminatory language is strictly prohibited on Vinted and we will take action against any member that is found to have broken our rules. These listings have now been removed and the member has been blocked from our platform."
