Women call out ‘creepy’ experiences on Vinted as trolls and image thieves target site | Sexual harassment

The users of used clothing websites, such as Varmedi, warn their images against their will in the fields of pornography, and give alarm about the spread of sexually loaded harassment under their publications.

The potential to kidnap photos published for real or fake erotic content on the Internet has long been known, but victims and defenders say that criminals have been reset by vained with targeted campaigns.

Founded in 2008, the Lithuanian Online Market has become the most successful website in Europe with more than 65 million registered users to buy, sell and trade second -hand and new clothing.

Popularity seems to have made it a lottery for female enemy trolls, image thieves and unwanted sexualized content among young women.

In Germany, the EU’s largest economy, users in France, Italy and the UK have been the last wave of complaints that enable the media to be examined, as the website has reported problems.

A young female vinted user, described as Mina, went to social media to explain her ordeal last month and pay attention to others. HE Instagram Post More than 1.7 million viewed and was taken to the subtitles with an objection: “Please share, so many women will see!”

In the tear video, Mina said that the paintings he put on Vinted were apparently copied and then published on “porn sites”. He said that a Google search of his name has now brought connections to this content, just as he applied for business.

The Guardian could not independently approve the account. Instagram video, Google and individual criminal complaints about the German police who reported to the German police, he said.

This week, German news Der Spiegel issued an interview with Mina, saying he was 22 years old, and wanted to keep his surname special in Cologne. He said he used Vinted for “a few years”.

“The idea of a second -hand platform for clothes is super and important considering climate change,” he said. But he said that Vinted is no longer a “safe space for him and described his experiences as“ creepy ..

He said that Varmed received a dam of malicious messages through the messaging system: “Hello, I want to buy this outfit, but I want you to try it without underwear” and: “Can I buy you too?”

Others asked for more “sincere” pictures than they sent.

Mina said that the photographs posed in the clothes he was trying to sell, including bikini tops and summer dresses, were even more disturbing and reappeared on other websites that depict him as a “erotic model ve and said that he was the“ naked -bare -bakery star ”.

He said he never published online naked photos and had no account on the amateur pornography site. Spiegel said that he found his name and images in sex -oriented German forums, and returned to Vinted and Instagram accounts.

A few investigations have appeared.

In April, a joint report of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and public broadcasters NDR and WDR revealed a public telegraph channel with more than 1,000 paintings that were released from the market platform in June 2024 and with a sexualized context.

The report includes women who were seen to sell sexual services based on the information on the profiles of the Telegram channel, most of them were found as legitimate Vinted users and displayed unintentionally.

Many of the 130 women from Germany, Italy and France reported that many of them received terrible messages in their profitable accounts. Before the Telegram channel was closed earlier this year, 2,000 male subscribers had accumulated.

England publisher in October Channel 4 Vinted Sluts has revealed a comparable website.

The German joint research emphasized the case that a 26 -year -old student, who was defined as Bella from Berlin, attracted attention against Vinted’s will on his daughters and opposed an insult in a few languages.

Under one of the posts, a user asked in a promised conversation with him: “Is it still available?” About a clothing: “And underwear underneath?”

“He felt disgusting, Bel Bella said. “Creepy.”

Sonja, a 32 -year -old lawyer who has been registered to Vinted since 2011, said that he started to receive “aggressive messages ün every day after he was unaware of the girls who have not made love with his body. “It makes you feel like a digital version of the street,” he said.

Vinted said that he had applied “zero tolerance policy ve for undesirable sexual communication through the site and removed this content as soon as he was reported. In the updated online assistance center, it allows users To report inappropriate behavior and content.

This was an option used by Bella and Sonja, which said Vinted closed the disturbing accounts about a week later. However, they soon received new attack messages from other accounts.

Vinted said that if users find their photos on third -party sites, they will communicate with these platforms to ask for “if possible”.

“We have reported such cases to the telegram through various channels, and in connection with the channel 4 documentary, we have provided the closure of a named website,” he said.

Vinted advises its members to keep personal information from private messages, such as full names, addresses and bank details, while minimizing the data on the shipping labels in the community standards, their faces.

Söz We are aware of the difficulties faced by online platforms to address inappropriate behaviors and to take the negative experiences of our members very seriously. It is a priority that continues to protect our members. ”

“In order to prevent events, we will continue to review and develop our systems and respond quickly when problems arise.”

Legal experts recommend that they inform the users who are missed for sexualized content, to the authorities in their countries and their websites. The EU’s Digital Services Act required online platforms to delete illegal illegal content marked since February 2024.