Trade Me amends policy after offensive listing ruling
A crackdown on traffic light law-breakers has just begun. and investigate.
TRADE ME has amended its policy on racially offensive listings after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled a money box listing to be too offensive.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) complaints board upheld a complaint about an auction for a metal money box.
The seller, named as B Hodd in the decision, told the ASA the title of the box was its historical name and it was a historical artifact rather than an item of propaganda or an effort to insight hate speech.
The ASA disagreed and ruled the N-word was ‘‘offensive, racist pejorative’’ and ordered the advertisement be removed.
Trade Me trust and safety man- ager Jon Duffy said tweaking the policy was the right thing to do.
The policy now reads: ‘‘You may not use wording that could be considered derogatory or offensive in this context’’
The old policy allowed for the use of the word in the item description because it was the historical title of the item but the new policy meant this would no longer be allowed, he said. Assessments on what was considered derogatory or offensive would be made on a case-by-case basis, Duffy said.
Webb’s auction manager Josh Williams said discretion was needed when advertising the boxes, which generally fetched between $200-$500.