A journalist who listed a £25 mirror on Facebook Marketplace received a series of sexually harassing messages from prospective buyers, prompting her to call for Meta to introduce clearer reporting mechanisms and stronger repercussions for offenders.
Beth Kirkbride, a journalist for Metro, listed the arch mirror on 22 August ahead of moving back into her parents’ house, where there already was one. Having recently lost a large chunk of her freelance income, she could have done with the extra cash. But she said the sexual harassment she endured on Marketplace was not worth that £25.
One man asked: ‘Is this still available? Does she come with it lol.’ Another messaged: ‘Can you pick up the mirror and shake it?’, prompting a restrained ‘weird behaviour’ reply from her. Yet another said: ‘Not interested in the mirror but you’re beautiful,’ despite the fact that she had obscured her face in the photo.
Women share similar experiences
After venting her frustrations about the unsolicited messages, a friend questioned why she was wearing a dress in the listing photo – as if she had got dolled up for the occasion. She said she was simply doing some life admin while waiting for a friend to arrive for dinner, but noted that even writing that sentence, she couldn’t believe she was justifying what she was wearing when selling a mirror. The thought process reminded her of the arguments deployed by rape apologists, who suggest women somehow invite sexual violence through what they’re wearing.
Gemma, 42, from Gateshead, knows just how quickly an apparently sincere Marketplace enquiry can become something more sinister. In 2022, she listed her wedding dress, including her measurements and 34FF bra size, so that prospective brides could judge whether it would fit. When a Yorkshireman claiming to be a photographer expressed interest, Gemma gave him her work phone number, believing he was a genuine buyer.
During their call, he told Gemma that her breasts reminded him of his wife’s, before revealing that they were swingers, and asking whether Gemma had ever considered the lifestyle herself. ‘At first it was an “OMG” story that I could share with my work colleagues,’ said Gemma. ‘We laughed about it because of how shocking it was. The audacity of this man!’
Harassment escalates
It soon stopped being funny, though: over the following fortnight, Gemma received more than 10 calls from a withheld number. She said: ‘It just felt disgusting. I could be sitting in work, answering a call and hearing him heavy breathing and – what I suspected was – masturbating on the other end.’ Gemma can’t prove it was the same man, although the caller referenced the bra size in her advert in one call. Because she used the phone for work, she couldn’t ignore calls from withheld numbers. Eventually, she threatened to contact the police, and the calls stopped.
Heather, 30, from Sheffield, didn’t appear in her listing photos at all, when in late 2021, after she listed a pair of Christian Louboutin shoes on Marketplace – using photographs that showed only the shoes, box and dust bags. A man messaged Heather asking to see them on, and she replied saying ‘I don’t think that’s necessary’. He then sent an unsolicited image of himself reclining in underwear, which Heather felt was deliberately posed to emphasise his penis. ‘I immediately blocked him,’ Heather said.
Widespread problem and reporting gaps
Research published by Refuge and the End Violence Against Women Coalition on 24 September 2026, which surveyed 2,000 women aged 16+, found that one in three (36%) of UK women reported experiencing some form of online violence against women, with 18% reporting experiences of image-based sexual abuse. A 2023 OnePoll survey of 3,000 UK women found that one in five had experienced sexual harassment on social media, with 57% of those affected identifying Facebook or Messenger as somewhere they had experienced it.
Kirkbride received 61 enquiries, with 24 of these contacts making her uncomfortable. She finally sold the mirror on 9 September, opting for it to go to a woman called Zoe, rather than risk giving a man with an ulterior motive the address where her female former housemate now lived alone.
Neither Gemma nor Heather contacted Facebook after their experiences – they didn’t see the point as they couldn’t imagine any action would be taken. Kirkbride did report and, in her experience at least, they have been right. Finding the reporting function within the mobile Messenger app was far from intuitive. The ‘block’ option comes up first on mobile, and you have to go into a submenu to locate the option to report a user for sexual harassment – but even after sending over 20 of these reports, she received no communication from Meta about what, if any, action was taken.
While Meta claims to review reports and act on content that violates its policies, the company’s ‘Trust and safety on Marketplace’ webpage doesn’t explain what specific repercussions harassers might face, or how complainants will be informed of the outcome. Scrolling back through the messages, none of the accounts that sent inappropriate messages appear to have been deactivated.
Call for Meta to act
Kirkbride wants Meta to introduce clearer reporting mechanisms, explicitly address sexual harassment within its Marketplace safety guidance, and implement stronger repercussions for serious or repeated offences – including Marketplace bans, or Facebook account suspensions. Crucially, complainants deserve feedback about the measures that have been taken to protect them and others using the platform. Blocking someone might prevent them from contacting her ever again – but it does nothing to reassure her that they won’t message the next woman trying to sell her belongings.
Meanwhile, Meta appears to be preoccupied with making Marketplace more autonomous. In September 2026, Meta’s AI assistant, Muse, reportedly arranged a Marketplace transaction on seller Matt Robb’s behalf, sharing his Toronto home address with a prospective buyer who turned up while he was out. The seller acknowledged having selected an ‘Allow Always’ permission, but said that he hadn’t appreciated the extent of the authority this granted the assistant, while Meta said that its investigations of similar incidents had found Muse followed users’ instructions and permissions.
Kirkbride said that before investing any further in automation, Meta should take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask why something as simple as selling one still comes at such a cost for women. Meta did not respond to Metro’s request for comment.
