On Oct. 19 local time, European second-hand clothing trading platform Vinted said that following large-scale riots in France, the company is tightening its review of suspicious listings and has removed advertisements linked to looted goods, with offending accounts potentially facing permanent bans.
According to reports, about 550,000 people demonstrated across France on Oct. 17 to protest against rising living costs and declining public services. The demonstrations later escalated into serious riots, with nearly 3,000 shops nationwide looted, including LV, Rolex, SEPHORA and other brand stores. There are signs that stolen goods were subsequently listed for sale online.
A Vinted spokesperson said selling stolen goods is strictly prohibited on the platform, adding that they have zero tolerance for it. Since the weekend, the team has taken immediate action to identify and remove listings suspected of being linked to the looting, and is cooperating with law enforcement and French authorities.
French Minister Delegate for Small and Medium Enterprises Papin said that later on Oct.19, authorities will meet with representatives from Vinted, Amazon, eBay, TikTok and other platforms, as well as officials from the Interior Ministry and Justice Ministry, to discuss how to stop the online sale of stolen goods.
It is understood that Vinted was founded in Lithuania in 2008 and is valued at 8 billion euros, with France, the UK and Italy being its largest markets. Italy has also recently seen riots over cost-of-living issues, with luxury stores looted.
(Video source: X)
France protests turn violent; Hermès, Apple stores looted as RAID unit deployed
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