UK culture secretary says government is 'looking seriously' at barring under-16s from eBay and Vinted

Documented: On 8 November 2026, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the government was “looking seriously” at including Vinted and eBay in the planned under-16s social media ban “in order to keep children safe.” The BBC reported that the social media restrictions are due in March 2027 and are expected to cover large platforms including Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat. Nandy’s remarks followed a Sunday Times report that ministers were considering online marketplaces because private messaging could let strangers contact children. The paper also named Depop and Facebook Marketplace; Nandy, in the BBC interview, named eBay and Vinted. eBay told the BBC it wanted to understand the proposal and would keep working with the government. Vinted said it welcomed dialogue with ministers and the regulator. Both platforms already set an 18+ account threshold; Vinted’s terms also allow a parent or guardian to open an account for a child under supervision. The Independent and the BBC both treat the marketplace extension as under consideration, not as law. The Next Web noted that in June 2026 the government had said e-commerce sites would sit outside the social media ban.

Documented, and the part that changes the architecture: a ban on under-16 accounts cannot be enforced by asking users to tick a box. On 29 October 2026 Ofcom published a rapid assessment, requested by government, of checks it considers capable of being “highly effective” at 16. The BBC reported the four methods as photo-ID matching (document checked against a live image), banking-based age data, digital ID services, and facial age estimation. Ofcom’s chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, told the BBC the regulator was drawing on age checks already applied to pornography under the Online Safety Act, and said the methods must preserve privacy and protect data, while leaving firms to choose which compliant system to use. Ofcom has separately reported to government on how age assurance has been used in the first months of the child-protection duties. The practical consequence, already stated for the social media ban, is that adults as well as teenagers are the people who have to pass the check: the system has to sort everyone who wants an account, not only the children it is written to exclude.

Claimed, not independently verified here: government sources quoted by the Sunday Times said there was an “increasing body of evidence” that under-16s use these services and “are potentially accessing risk,” and that any platform whose messaging lets users speak to strangers should be considered for “highly effective” age requirements. LBC reported that the NSPCC’s Rani Govender said the real question was enforcement, given that Vinted and eBay already claim an 18+ floor, and that the Children’s Society has warned some young users are asked for indecent images in exchange for money or gifts. Ofcom’s own children’s measurement, cited by LBC, found frequent use of eBay and Vinted among 8- to 14-year-olds, which is evidence of use, not by itself evidence of grooming.

Speculated, and not in the official record: commentary that treats the marketplace idea as already enacted, or as a settled path from resale sites to every shop, every app, and internet access itself unless a person enrols in a government identity app. What is on the record is narrower and still consequential. A child-safety rule whose enforcement method is identity-grade age assurance, already used for pornography and now specified for a social media ban, is being discussed for ordinary marketplaces whose distinctive feature is private messaging. That is a change in who must identify themselves to use a routine commercial service, and it is still a proposal. No final platform list or secondary legislation for marketplaces has been published.