Recently, the Chinese second-hand trading platform Xianyu caused widespread concern by automatically listing and selling cultural relics photos from users’ mobile phones. On June 1, Xianyu issued an apology.
According to reports from Upstream News, on May 30, a Jiangsu netizen, Ms. Gu, was shocked to find a prized possession from the Shaanxi History Museum, a Tang Dynasty gilded horse cup with a price of 6000 yuan (RMB), prominently displayed on the for sale section of her Xianyu app account page. What surprised Ms. Gu even more was that the entire sale process, from text description to pricing and publication, was automatically done by the platform’s AI without her knowledge as the account owner.
Ms. Gu suspected that Xianyu had secretly accessed her phone’s photo album to list the photos for sale. When she inquired with the platform’s customer service, they mentioned that it might be because the photo had been uploaded to the “Xianyu Space,” triggering the automatic listing function.
Xianyu informed China News Service that after verification, the related item was identified by AI as a common cultural relic item, generating suggested titles, descriptions, and other information. Currently, the relevant links have been voluntarily removed by users.
Xianyu stated that they have connected to the National Cultural Relics Bureau’s “China Stolen (Lost) Cultural Relics Information Release Platform,” which enables intelligent matching of 820 national-level stolen cultural relics data. In addition, they have raised the publishing threshold for 72 highly sensitive categories in the collecting field, requiring sellers to clearly indicate whether they possess a source certificate. Xianyu expressed deep apologies for the inconvenience caused by the product experience issue. They pledged to promptly enhance the reminder for product listings and user confirmation to prevent similar misunderstandings from happening again.
On June 1, the topic labeled “Xianyu Apologizes” briefly trended as a hot search on Weibo.
Video blogger and Weibo influencer “Xiao Yi Speaks About Cars” remarked, “It’s outrageous that photos of one’s personal collection and cultural relics from their own phone were inexplicably listed as items for sale by the platform’s AI without their consent. An apology is definitely warranted.”
Tech blogger and Weibo influencer “IT Internet Matters” posted, “Xianyu’s feature is somewhat alarming. While convenient, the system retrieves user’s photo album pictures, allows AI to automatically publish them on the platform for sale. Users should have the right to be informed rather than assumed. Currently, Xianyu has apologized and committed to strengthening the user confirmation mechanism before listing products.”
Automobile review expert and host Zhao Pu of “Zhao Pu Studio” said, “Did they miss the point of the apology? Shouldn’t they explain why they read users’ photo albums without permission and uploaded them to the software? Many people, including Ms. Gu, have had similar experiences, where their items were inexplicably listed on Xianyu.”
Xianyu (formerly known as “Taobao Second-hand” launched in 2012) is a C2C (consumer-to-consumer) community platform under the Alibaba Group, focusing on the trade of second-hand items and sharing experiences. It has evolved into one of the largest second-hand goods trading markets in China.