Shein, the ultra-fast online fashion brand, is facing renewed pressure in France after investigations found child-like sex dolls sold on the site.
On Thursday, a Paris appeal court will weigh the government’s push to suspend the Chinese-based marketplace after sex dolls resembling children and weapons were found on its site late last year.
The discovery ignited a political storm, prompting France to demand tougher oversight and urge the EU to take action.
The case has become a flashpoint in Europe’s growing backlash against the flood of cheap Chinese goods and the platforms that distribute them.
Shein has banned sex dolls from its marketplace after global backlash. (Reuters: Supplied)
Shein’s global backlash
The ABC first reported the sale of childlike sex dolls, including torsos and disembodied heads, on Shein’s Australian website in late October.
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Child sex abuse dolls are life-size dolls made to look like pubescent and prepubescent children for men’s sexual use.
Overwhelmingly, the sex abuse dolls depict little girls, sometimes as small as 60 centimetres tall and roughly the same weight as a child.
A screenshot of a childlike sex doll on Shein’s Australia website in September. (Supplied)
The news circulated on social media and sparked outrage online.
One week later, France’s anti-fraud unit reported the platform for selling the illegal items after receiving an anonymous tip.
The French government moved to suspend the site in France for three months, just days before the retailer was due to open its first permanent store in Paris in November.
The government said the suspension would only lift if the platform proved its content abided with French law, and set a 10,000 euro ($16,000) fine for any breach.
It prompted Shein to ban all sex dolls and suspend the adult products category from its marketplace globally, lifting the ban by that weekend.
Temu and Shein sell headless child sex abuse dolls
France appeals court rejects Shein suspension
A month later, a Paris judicial court rejected the bid, saying the three-month suspension would be “disproportionate”.
The French government appealed the ruling “at the request of the prime minister”, and said it had concerns over “systematic risk” linked to Shein’s model, a statement to AFP said.
Protests were held outside Shein’s first physical store in Paris after the childlike sex doll scandal. (Reuters: Sarah Meyssonnier)
The court acknowledged a “serious harm to public order”, but found the sale of the items “sporadic” and noted that Shein had since removed the products.
“Only certain products on the marketplace were identified, in these proceedings, as manifestly illegal and harmful, while the ‘fr.Shein.com’ platform offers several hundred thousand items for sale,” the court ruling said.
The court ordered Shein to stop selling “sexual products that could constitute pornographic content, without implementing age-verification measures”.
The company has acknowledged difficulties in implementing an effective age filter for pornographic products.
The court will decide whether a suspension is warranted, and whether it is in line with European Union law.
The EU has also opened an investigation into Shein over the sale of childlike sex dolls. (Reuters: Abdul Saboor)
Shortly after, the French government urged the European Union to take similar action and sanction Shein for breaching European regulations.
Last month, plans to open Shein shops in five other French cities were announced by the retailer and department store chain BHV.
EU’s probe into Shein’s childlike sex dolls
The EU has also opened an investigation into Shein over the sale of childlike sex dolls.
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The probe is the European Commission’s first into Shein under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s mammoth law that aims to counter the spread of illegal content and goods online.
The European Commission said it was investigating the sale of illegal products “including child sexual abuse material”.
“We share the commission’s objective of ensuring a safe and trusted online environment and will continue to engage constructively on this procedure,” Shein said in a statement.
Shein is among more than 20 “very large” online platforms that must comply with the DSA or risk fines that could reach as high as 6 per cent of their global turnover.
A number of other e-commerce giants, including Temu and AliExpress, have also faced pressure on the European stage in recent months.