Violence of October 17: what Vinted, Leboncoin and eBay have committed to doing to avoid receiving looted products

Summoned by the government on Monday evening, the resale platforms agreed to “cooperate” more closely with the authorities. The Minister of Commerce Serge Papin assured that he had “signed a charter” with several platforms including Vinted, Leboncoin and eBay, in an interview on Sud Radio this Tuesday, October 20. After the looting which followed the violence of the weekend, which would have affected 3,000 businesses in France according to the executive's count, classified ads had flourished on these sites to sell the loot.

Receiving stolen goods is an offense punishable by five years in prison and a fine of 375,000 euros. Platforms, on the other hand, cannot be held directly responsible for an illegal ad, unless they do not act to have effective moderation. “They have made traceability commitments” and promised “if there is any doubt, to immediately notify the authorities,” explained Serge Papin, without further details.

“Reinforced monitoring” to detect concealment announcements

In a press release, the ministry clarified these commitments. The platforms have notably agreed to “strengthen their cooperation with national authorities to identify and report potentially illicit content” but also to share with investigators “any data useful for identifying receivers”.

The platforms will also “put in place reinforced monitoring” and “intensify” their moderation to fight against these announcements. They will focus in particular on “abnormally low” prices, visible anti-theft devices on products, new products sold in batches, etc. They are also committed to “notifying consumers of the risks and sanctions incurred in the event of concealment”.

The Minister of Commerce also “requested investigative work” from the platforms, which will have to return within 48 hours. More precisely, they will have to “regularly” transmit to the government “a quantified report of the actions to remove problematic advertisements, the measures implemented as well as the reports transmitted to the authorities”.