Britain's Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy revealed on Sunday that officials are weighing whether to extend the forthcoming social media ban for children under 16 to encompass resale marketplaces including Vinted and eBay. Speaking on the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Nandy stated the government was "looking seriously" at the proposal as a safeguarding measure, according to BBC reporting. The prohibition itself is scheduled to take effect in spring of next year.
The Sunday Times had reported that authorities were considering broadening the scope to include the two resale platforms, with particular focus on the messaging capabilities that could enable strangers to contact minors inappropriately. The publication also mentioned that Depop and Facebook Marketplace might face similar restrictions.
This proposed expansion represents a departure from the government's initial position. When officials unveiled the ban in June, they explicitly stated that e-commerce platforms would fall outside its scope.
According to BBC reporting, both eBay and Vinted maintain age requirements stipulating that account holders must be at least 18 years old. eBay indicated to the BBC that the specifics of the government's proposal remain unclear and committed to continued collaboration with officials. Vinted declined to comment to the BBC.
The prohibition will apply to platforms whose primary function centres on social connection and that enable users to share content publicly. Services such as Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube fall into this category. A comprehensive list of affected platforms has not yet been released by the government.
Separately, Ofcom released guidance last month outlining four verification approaches for confirming user ages, encompassing photo identification and facial age estimation technology. Australia implemented a comparable prohibition last year, though reports indicate numerous young people have successfully circumvented it.
Source: The Next Web
