The key facts

  • Over the weekend France experienced some of the fiercest street riots in recent years: more than 3,000 businesses were damaged
  • Minister Anne Le Henanf convened representatives of Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok for a meeting with the Interior and Justice Ministries
  • Vinted declared a 'zero tolerance' policy, while eBay did not confirm an increase in suspicious listings

Riots and the appearance of suspicious listings

Six months before the election of a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, France experienced, according to the agency's estimate, some of the fiercest street riots in recent years over the weekend. According to the authorities, thousands of shops were damaged, many of them looted, and more than 3,000 businesses suffered damage. The surge in violence followed several weeks of student demonstrations demanding better conditions in educational institutions. Since Sunday, screenshots of listings for the resale of goods allegedly stolen during the riots have been circulating on social media.

Authorities' demands to the platforms

Digital Affairs Minister Anne Le Henanf stated on the social network X that 'items stolen this weekend are being put up for sale on certain platforms,' adding: 'We expect these platforms to remove the relevant listings without delay.' She convened representatives of six platforms for a meeting with officials from the ministries of the interior and justice. According to the minister, the platforms 'will also be required to cooperate closely with government agencies so that persons engaged in reselling stolen goods can be held accountable.'

Who was invited to the talks

According to the French Ministry of Trade, representatives of the platforms Vinted, Amazon, eBay, Leboncoin, Meta and TikTok, as well as the French Association of Online Retail Fevad, were invited to the talks.

The platforms' reaction

In a comment to the AFP agency, Vinted said that in such cases it adheres to a policy of 'zero tolerance' and 'actively cooperates with law enforcement agencies and the French authorities.' The Vilnius-based second-hand platform stated: 'Since this weekend, our teams have immediately begun identifying and removing listings that may involve stolen goods, and we have stepped up monitoring of suspicious publications,' without specifying the scale of the problem. eBay, in turn, said that it 'has no data confirming an increase in listings that may be linked to thefts committed over the weekend,' and noted that it uses 'proactive technological tools' to detect the sale of stolen goods.