A domestic media investigation has found vendors using Alibaba’s secondhand platform Xianyu to solicit illicit sexual services, including some allegedly involving minors. 

State owned Hebei Television reported that vendors used fake listings for massages, modeling shoots, at-home personal training, and swimming lessons to direct users to private messaging platforms, where the transactions were allegedly arranged. 

Xianyu said on Sept. 18, when the investigation was published, that it has been working with police since January to dismantle 15 prostitution-related groups and had frozen nearly 100,000 accounts suspected of directing users to pornographic content.

In its latest statement on Wednesday, Xianyu called for a “cross-platform alliance” to combat illicit sexual content and the exploitation of minors, stressing that the conversations cited in the investigation took place on other messaging platforms after initial contact on Xianyu.

The investigation triggered widespread debate on Chinese social media, with several related hashtags topping microblogging platform Weibo’s trending list. The most-viewed has garnered 490 million views as of Wednesday.

One listing cited in the report advertising swimming lessons directed buyers to a private chat group on Tencent’s business messaging app WeCom, where a 99-yuan ($15) deposit provided access to a price list for sexual services for additional fees. The reporter placed an order and provided an address. Shortly after, a woman arrived at the location saying she offered flirting, kissing, and bathing services. 

The report also found a vendor allegedly offering girls as young as 14 for prostitution, charging 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. Another vendor sent reporters photos of a 16-year-old’s ID card as evidence of her age, offered to arrange video calls, and said the girls could fly to meet buyers if they covered the airfare.

Xianyu’s customer service told Hebei Television that automated systems are largely used to review its product listings, with human reviewers involved only in appeals.

Following the investigation, Xianyu said that it would strengthen automated detection by improving its keyword filters and image-detection algorithms, and step up manual reviews of suspicious listings and accounts. 

A Wednesday check by Sixth Tone found that listings for “at-home modeling shoots” no longer yielded results, but “at-home shoots,” as well as “fitness” and “swimming” services, remained available.

With more than 600 million users, Xianyu is China’s largest secondhand trading app. In recent years, it has evolved into an informal services marketplace, offering everything from résumé writing to odd jobs like finding an owner’s lost pet or smuggling someone into a sold-out concert, with prices often negotiated through private chats. 

The platform has repeatedly come under scrutiny for users selling illicit products and services. A 2019 report by Shanghai-based media outlet The Paper found Xianyu vendors were listing ads for 1-yuan items of clothing as a way to lure young women into chatting with them, with the eventual aim of providing sexual services. In 2021, consumer protection authorities ordered Xianyu and 11 other resale platforms to crack down on listings directing users to illicit sexual transactions.

Chang Dongyue, a partner at Shanghai Droit&Elite Law Firm, told Sixth Tone that Xianyu’s low barriers to entry and reliance on user traffic and transaction volume, combined with pressure to minimize moderation costs, create conditions for illicit listings to resurface repeatedly.

Under China’s Cybersecurity Law, platforms must remove illegal content, while the Law on the Protection of Minors requires them to delete illegal content directed at minors, retain evidence of the content, and report it to authorities. 

In response to Xianyu’s comments on cross-platform collaboration, Chang noted that cooperation on illegal activity is necessary. “Banning accounts on individual platforms only removes one link in the chain,” he said. “Without genuine cross-platform cooperation, enforcement will be less effective.”

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: VCG)