It’s a rumor that has been circulating for a few days, and which seems to be gaining more and more momentum on social networks. Vinted, the online sales platform for second-hand clothing, would be accused of harboring “a vast pedophile network”. Some Internet users have indeed noticed strange announcements on the online resale site for some time.
Cheap children’s clothing would thus be offered at exorbitant prices, sometimes more than 15,000 euros, with certain comments: “6 years old, very good condition”, “worn a few times” or even “never used”. So many details which, according to some, would actually serve as code to hide “child sex trafficking”.
“Our French QAnons are relaunching a 2020 Wayfairgate-style delirium”
Several screenshots were posted on Twitter (X), suggesting that these announcements of items sold for too much money would in reality hide the existence of a pedophile network, which would therefore use the platform to “resell children “. According to them, the size of the clothing would thus indicate the age of the victim.
This rumor, which is obviously not based on any element, finds its origin in conspiratorial circles, as was the case in 2020 with the American commerce site Wayfair (specialized in furniture), which had also been accused of harboring a child crime network. “Our French QAnons are relaunching a delirium like “Wayfairgate” of 2020. The Wayfair e-commerce site which was accused of selling children to paedoes. They are bringing it back today with the Vinted site,” confirms Tristan Mendès-Franceassociate lecturer at Paris Diderot University, specialist in digital cultures and online extremism.
This is therefore not the first time that such rumors have targeted a brand. Before the furniture site Waifair, a Washington pizzeria had already been at the heart of a conspiracy theory in 2016 involving alleged child sex trafficking, in the case known as “pizzagate”. .