Vinted sellers discover 'disturbing' way their pictures are being used

Women selling their clothes on Vinted have discovered in a new Channel 4 documentary how their photographs were being used without permission and sexualised online.

Vinted's Dirty Laundry: Dispatches, airing on Friday at 7.30pm, uncovers the hidden risks of the immensely popular second-hand shopping app.

Founded in Lithuania in 2008, the platform is now valued at £4.5billion with 65 million users across 21 countries, 16 million of whom are in the UK.

But the documentary exposes how images of British women selling products on the app were sexualised on another website without their consent. Called Vinted S****, its tag line was 'when you sell your clothes but you want the attention'.

One of the victims, Lydia, 28, expresses her horror upon learning that her Vinted photos were used in this manner: 'It's very disturbing. I had no idea this was happening, and it has made me feel extremely unsafe.'

Vinted say it's contactable 24/7 and will see every issue through to resolution but 11 days after Lydia reported the website to Vinted, she still hadn't received a response. Dispatches alerted Vinted to this site and the website was taken down.

Upon discovering the website, presenter and journalist Ellie Flynn says: 'It's basically just massively oversexualising women who are trying to sell clothes on Vinted, it has loads of different profiles of different women all over the world.

'Some of the images of women who are selling things like bikinis or summer outfits that are more tight fitting. Some of them are just everyday outfits but they are all being used in a way that is overtly sexual and absolutely not what these women were intending. 

'It's just so gross. I will never cease to be amazed by the things you can find on the internet but this really does feel like a new low.'

The host continues: 'It's hard because I really don't want to upset anyone but if my photos were being used on this website and I had no idea about it, I would want to know so I feel like I should reach out to the girls, at least in the UK.'

One of the women whose photos appeared on the website says that she would like to meet Ellie to see the website in full and talk about it. 

After seeing her images on the site, personal trainer Lydia, from Wales, says: 'It's very disturbing. It makes me feel uneasy.'

She is told how the website links back to her Vinted profile, which leaves her feeling 'really scared'. 

'We're just innocent people wanting to sell our clothes and I'm guessing half of these people on this website don't even know this is happening to them,' Lydia says.

'I'm going to take all my pictures down and put them back up for sale with the clothes on the hanger... it just makes you feel really vulnerable.'

Lydia contacts Vinted whilst with Ellie, explaining in the message that the discovered website is 'very sexual in nature', adding: 'This is very disturbing and I feel very unsafe.'

'Vintedhave a huge part to play in this, Vinted or a team should be looking into that security side of things,' adds Lydia to Ellie.

But after 11 days, Lydia has no response. 

Elsewhere, consumer expert, Iain Martin, talks about people having complained about receiving inappropriate direct messages that are commenting on clothing or photographs of themselves where they're modelling clothing that they've uploaded.

He also references instances where people are stealing photographs from Vinted and trading them on other online forums.

Vinted said to the Channel 4 programme: 'We are taking the allegations seriously…we act as swiftly as we can against anything that violates our terms and conditions…[including] measures that may result in the definitive blocking of sellers who repeatedly ignore our policy... we understand that members are not always aware that the item they sell or buy might be recalled...

'Our teams are … constantly working on improving and developing new tools and technologies to improve our systems…

'We're very sorry to hear of these experiences … and commit to take the necessary action against members who violate our community standards...

'We have a number of measures in place to uphold safety on the platform and are constantly updating these processes and improving our level of personal member support.

'We have reported the website mentioned to request an immediate shutdown.'

Vinted’s Dirty Laundry: Dispatches airs Friday 18 October at 7.30pm on Channel 4