French authorities have warned they may block access to Shein after it emerged that the online fast fashion giant had been selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance.
France’s consumer watchdog, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, said last week it had discovered the dolls on Shein’s website, noting that their descriptions and categorization left little doubt as to their child-pornographic nature.
The agency has referred the case to public prosecutors, and Economy Minister Roland Lescure said on Monday he would seek to ban Shein from the French market if such incidents were to occur again.
“This is provided for by law,” he said. “In cases involving terrorism, drug trafficking, or child pornographic materials, the government has the right to request that access to the French market be prohibited,” Lescure told BFM TV.
The law authorizes French authorities to order online platforms to remove clearly illegal content such as child pornography within 24 hours. If they fail to comply, authorities can require internet service providers and search engines to block access and delist the site.
The watchdog said it has issued a formal notice urging the platform to take urgent corrective measures.
Shein said in a statement that it has banned all sex-doll products, and temporarily removed its adult products category for review. It added that it has launched an investigation to determine how these listings bypassed its screening measures.
“The fight against child exploitation is non-negotiable for Shein,” said Executive Chairman Donald Tang said in the statement. “These were marketplace listings from third-party sellers, but I take this personally. Trust is our foundation, and we will not allow anything that violates it.”
He noted that every related product has been removed and that “We are tracing the source and will take swift, decisive action against those responsible.”
Meanwhile, a parliamentary fact-finding mission on the inspection of products imported into France announced it will summon Shein officials for questioning.
“No economic actor can consider themselves above the law. A retailer who sold such an item would have had their store immediately closed by a prefectoral order. Shein must provide an explanation,” said the mission rapporteur, Antoine Vermorel-Marques.
Under French law, the distribution via electronic communication networks of child-pornographic materials is punishable by up to seven years in prison and a 100,000 euro ($115,000) fine.
The watchdog also noted that Shein sells other pornographic products including adultlike sex dolls without effective age-filtering measures to prevent “minors or sensitive audiences from accessing such pornographic content.”
Shein was founded in China in 2012, and the low-cost online retailer is now based in Singapore. Reaching customers mainly through its app, it has enjoyed a meteoric rise to become a global leader in fast fashion, shipping to 150 countries. The company has faced criticism over its labor practices and environmental record.
Lescure’s comments came just days before Shein is due to open its first permanent physical store in Paris, located inside the BHV Marais department store in the heart of the French capital city. The opening has sparked controversy, with an online petition protesting Shein’s arrival gathering more than 100,000 signatures.
Frederic Merlin, president of Societe des Grands Magasins, which owns BHV, called the sale of the dolls on Shein’s platform “indecent” and “unacceptable,” adding that “no product from Shein’s international marketplace” will be sold at the department store.
Meanwhile, the child-protection NGO Mouv’Enfants staged a protest at BHV. “As long as these dolls are available somewhere in the world, the company will remain an accomplice to a system that enables sex crimes against children,” co-founder Arnaud Gallais said.
—Samuel Petrequin, Associated Press