Shein has sparked outrage in France after being caught selling childlike sex dolls for under £175, prompting officials to report the fast-fashion giant to prosecutors and demand a crackdown
Sex dolls described as childlike have been put for sale on the Chinese fast fashion giant Shein, sparking outrage. The items prompted French authorities to report the company to prosecutors and demand urgent action.
Shein’s French page has been reported for selling sick sex dolls made to look like little girls for under £175 on its website, with authorities slamming the fast-fashion giant and reporting them to prosecutors. The dolls, described as “great dolls for lonely men” with disturbingly realistic features, were so explicit that officials said there was no doubt about their illegal paedophilic nature, prompting an urgent investigation and calls for a crackdown.
French fraud watchdog DGCCRF quickly blew the whistle on Shein after making the grim discovery. Officials slammed the “explicitly sexual” listings, some showing dolls just 80cm tall, styled as little girls with teddy bears, saying “their description and categorisation on the site make it hard to doubt the pedopornographic nature of the content”.
According to French media, the DGCCRF immediately reported Shein to the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office and media regulator Arcom, demanding the listings be axed and warning the company faces a €100,000 (£87,000) fine for distributing illegal content.
Shein says it “immediately” removed the dolls and is now investigating how the listings slipped through, but authorities blasted the brand for “misleading commercial practices” and failing to stop kids stumbling across the shocking products.
Moreover, Shein told AFP on Saturday (November 1) that it had “immediately”. removed from its platform the pedopornographic sex dolls after being reported by the DGCCRF to the French justice system. The company wrote in an official statement: “Our Marketplace Governance team is currently investigating how these listings were able to bypass our control mechanisms and is conducting a comprehensive review to identify and remove any similar products that may be offered by other third-party sellers.”
The Daily Star has contacted Shein representatives for comments.
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