“PEDOPORNOGRAPHIC” SEX DOLLS
The Court of Paris said Shein must implement measures to verify age – more than a simple declaration – to prevent “sexual products that may constitute pornographic content” from being accessed by minors.
The French government began proceedings to suspend Shein on Nov 5, less than two hours after the opening of its first ever physical store in the BHV department store in Paris.
The court said in a statement that Shein had removed the products rapidly, and that a systematic lack of controls, oversight or regulation had not been proven.
However, Christine Cerrada, a lawyer and legal adviser for French child protection group L’Enfance au Coeur, said the French court’s actions were “clearly insufficient”.
“From a legal standpoint, it is well known that age‑verification measures are extremely difficult to implement,” she said following the ruling.
Shein banned all sex dolls and suspended the adult products category from its marketplace globally on Nov 3 after the consumer watchdog’s findings. It could decide to keep this in place, thus avoiding the question of age verification.
Shein, which is privately owned but aims to go public in Hong Kong after failed attempts in New York and London, had global revenues of US$37 billion in 2024, the most recent filing of parent company Roadget Business Pte Ltd in Singapore shows.
