Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.

The UK government is considering adding Vinted and eBay to its ban on social media for under-16s, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said on Sunday. The ban is due to start next spring.Nandy said on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg that the government was “ looking seriously ” at the move to keep children safe, the BBC reported . Her comments followed a report in the Sunday Times that the ban would be widened to include the two resale sites. The paper said the concern was that messaging tools let strangers groom children. It said Depop and Facebook Marketplace could also be added.

However, the change would go further than the original plan. When the government announced the ban in June, it said it did not intend to include e-commerce platforms.

Both eBay and Vinted already say users must be at least 18, according to the BBC.…