We work hard to keep our users safe by making our platform hostile to anyone trying to post content that is unsafe or does not meet our posting rules. So what do we do about material that could be harmful to buyers, sellers or our community? Read on to discover our approach to detecting fraud, blocking spam and removing harmful content, or check out our Trust and Safety Report for more details.
What is harmful content?
We consider harmful content to be anything that is potentially dangerous to our community or does not adhere to our rules. This might be a fraudulent ad claiming to offer something that does not exist, a phishing message trying to take personal information from users, or illegal or restricted content, like weapons, alcohol or drugs.
How does Gumtree detect harmful content?
At Gumtree, we use a mix of automated detection, machine learning and manual moderation to keep you safe. As well as using the latest mitigation technology and computer software, we learn from what our community reports to us. Every time you flag something as suspicious using our report ad or reply functions, or by speaking to our customer support team, our dedicated team of human moderators review the content manually. This dedicated team are on call 365 days a year and they review both adverts and replies to keep our platform as safe as possible.
What about new threats?
Although our moderation team and automated detection are tried and tested, criminals still try to find new ways to get around our processes. That’s why we have a team of risk analysts whose job it is to constantly review content on Gumtree and update our systems to catch new threats. This specialist team is always looking out for new methods scammers might have found, as well as changing behaviour patterns and new ways of conducting fraud. Plus we work closely with law enforcement and policy makers to ensure we’re up to date with the latest trends.
How can you help Gumtree?
The Gumtree community is always helping us to improve our systems by letting us know about any harmful material they spot. You can report suspicious content at the click of a button. We’ll then check it and, if necessary, remove it.
Has my ad been marked as inappropriate?
If you’ve just posted your ad but it hasn’t appeared yet, it may have been flagged by our tools for review. We try to be as speedy as possible, but bear with us if your ad isn’t immediately live. If it’s been longer than four hours get in touch and we’ll investigate the hold-up for you. Read more about how we choose which content to remove and our policies.
