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Online marketplace Vinted says it has removed sexually explicit adverts, after a mum reported seeing a video depicting what she believed to be a pornographic scene while browsing for clothes. <\/p>\n
Kirsty Hopley, 44, from Carlisle, said she was searching the app for a dressing gown when the ad popped up.<\/p>\n
She was sitting next to her teenage daughter at the time.<\/p>\n
Ms Hopley reported the content to Vinted and later contacted Ofcom.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
She told BBC News the video, which started playing automatically, showed a “sickening” graphic and violent sexual encounter. <\/p>\n
The law and criminology teacher said she had installed content filters on her home internet and was shocked to see such material on the e-commerce platform.<\/p>\n
“I probably won’t buy anything from there again, which is disappointing as I love Vinted,” she said. “But I don’t want to see content like that.” <\/p>\n
The platform, which has no age restrictions, has recently faced scrutiny in France after reports that some sellers were using the site to direct users to adult content<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The advert Ms Hopley saw was promoting DramaWave, a mobile app that produces short-form scripted stories for social platforms.<\/p>\n Many of their series appear to follow romance storylines over multiple episodes of just a few minutes each. <\/p>\n Vinted said the adverts have now been blocked. <\/p>\n A spokesperson said the platform has a “zero-tolerance policy for unsolicited sexual communications and the promotion of sexual content”. <\/p>\n “This includes prohibiting sexually explicit advertisements on our platform,” they said. <\/p>\n “Where listings or ads are found to violate these rules, we will take action, including blocking or removing them.”<\/p>\n The BBC has approached DramaWave for comment. <\/p>\n The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told BBC News their rules were clear “that ads must not cause harm or offence”. <\/p>\n “Harmful or degrading portrayals of women in ads are completely unacceptable, and we take a zero-tolerance approach to this kind of content,” they said in a statement.<\/p>\n They added: “We encourage anyone with concerns about an ad they’ve seen to get in touch.”<\/p>\n Ms Hopley told BBC News she expected the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA)<\/a>, which includes laws to protect children from explicit content online, to have prevented such material appearing on her phone.<\/p>\n However the only paid-for advertising that is in scope of the OSA is fraudulent content. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n