Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The European Union stepped up its pressure on Shein on Wednesday after the online retail giant faced an uproar in France over the sale of childlike sex dolls. The controversy began in early November when French authorities condemned Shein for featuring sex dolls resembling children and moved to suspend the platform.
In a double whammy on Wednesday, first the EU executive demanded more information from Shein over the online sale of the dolls and weapons, saying it feared risks to consumers Europe-wide. “We talked to the French authorities, we talked to Shein, and we now have serious indications that indeed Shein may be posing more systemic risks for our consumers across the entire European Union,” said EU spokesman Thomas Regnier. The European Commission also said it feared illegal weapons were available to buy on Shein.
Then EU lawmakers shortly after called to make it easier to suspend e-commerce platforms, pointing to the scandal in France. The French government is seeking to suspend Shein for three months, with a hearing due to take place on Wednesday postponed to December 5. Shein, founded in China in 2012 but now based in Singapore, has vowed to cooperate with French authorities and said it is banning all sex dolls.
Under EU scrutiny, the EU’s request for information was made under the Digital Services Act (DSA), part of the bloc’s strengthened armoury to make the online world safer. Under the DSA, the world’s biggest digital platforms face strict rules including preventing the sale of illegal products. A request for information can lead to probes and even fines but does not in itself suggest the law has been broken, nor is it a move towards punishment. Brussels said it is seeking detailed information and internal documents from Shein on how it ensures children are not exposed to age-inappropriate content.
The commission also wants to know more about what steps Shein is taking to prevent illegal products such as weapons from being sold on its platform. But Shein has already been caught in the EU regulators’ crosshairs. The commission has sent the firm two previous requests for information. The DSA gives Brussels the power as a last resort to temporarily suspend a platform, but EU lawmakers believe it is time for Europe to ensure better policing of the platforms through enforcement of the bloc’s rules. A majority of European Parliament lawmakers on Wednesday backed a non-binding resolution saying suspending platforms that break the rules “should no longer be treated as an exceptional, last-resort measure”.
Beyond Shein, the Paris prosecutor’s office this month kickstarted probes into Shein, as well as rival online retailers AliExpress and Joom, for selling the sex dolls. A Paris court delayed a hearing planned for Wednesday after the government’s lawyer said he received Shein’s defence late the previous night and needed more time to analyse the evidence. The French commerce minister said Wednesday that France will lodge a civil suit against AliExpress and Joom over the sale of childlike sex dolls on their platforms.
Shein and AliExpress already face the heat over charges they are unfairly competing by flooding Europe with products that do not comply with the EU’s stringent rules. The EU is looking to scrap a bloc-wide duty exemption on low-value orders from overseas platforms by the start of 2026, rather than 2028 as earlier planned. Currently, there is no levy on packages worth less than 150 euros ($174) imported directly to consumers in the 27-nation bloc.
© 2024 AFP
