France’s anti-fraud unit on Saturday said it had reported Asian e-commerce giant Shein (希音) for selling what it described as “sex dolls with a childlike appearance.”
The French Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said in a statement that the “description and categorization” of the items on Shein’s Web site “make it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.”
Shortly after the statement, Shein announced that the dolls in question had been withdrawn from its platform and that it had launched an internal inquiry.
Photo: AFP
On its Web site, Le Parisien daily published a photo of one of the dolls sold on the platform, accompanied by an explicitly sexual caption.
The dolls measure about 80cm in height. In the photo, it was pictured holding a teddy bear.
“Imagine a child randomly clicking on and coming across these products while browsing the site looking for a doll,” DGCCRF official Alice Vilcot-Dutarte was quoted as saying by Le Parisien.
The news comes in the wake of Shein’s announcement last month that it intended to set up shop in a prestigious department store in central Paris — its first physical outlet.
Its outlet is due to open on Wednesday at BHV Marais, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856.
That decision provoked outrage among other clients of the upmarket store, BHV Marais, with some top fashion brands pulling their products from its shelves.
Shein, which was originally founded in China, has faced consistent criticism over working conditions at its factories and the environmental impact of its ultra-fast fashion business model. However, the company, now headquartered in Singapore, has seen its share value skyrocket while overtaking many traditional fixtures of high street shopping in the past few years.
The DGCCRF said that “the dissemination, via an electronic communications network, of child pornography is punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros [US$115,977].”
It said it had reported the case to French prosecutors and to Arcom, France’s online and broadcasting regulator.
France has already fined Shein three times this year for a total of 191 million euros.
Those were imposed for failing to comply with online cookie legislation, false advertising, misleading information and not declaring the presence of plastic microfibers in its products.
The European Commission is also investigating Shein over risks linked to illegal products, while EU lawmakers have approved legislation aimed at curbing the environmental impact of fast fashion.
With much pomp and circumstance, Cairo is today to inaugurate the long-awaited Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM), widely presented as the crowning jewel on authorities’ efforts to overhaul the country’s vital tourism industry. With a panoramic view of the Giza pyramids plateau, the museum houses thousands of artifacts spanning more than 5,000 years of Egyptian antiquity at a whopping cost of more than US$1 billion. More than two decades in the making, the ultra-modern museum anticipates 5 million visitors annually, with never-before-seen relics on display. In the run-up to the grand opening, Egyptian media and official statements have hailed the “historic moment,” describing the
SECRETIVE SECT: Tetsuya Yamagami was said to have held a grudge against the Unification Church for bankrupting his family after his mother donated about ￥100m The gunman accused of killing former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe yesterday pleaded guilty, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world. The slaying forced a reckoning in a nation with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church. “Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to murdering the nation’s longest-serving leader in July 2022. The 45-year-old was led into the room by four security officials. When the judge asked him to state his name, Yamagami, who
DEADLY PREDATORS: In New South Wales, smart drumlines — anchored buoys with baited hooks — send an alert when a shark bites, allowing the sharks to be tagged High above Sydney’s beaches, drones seek one of the world’s deadliest predators, scanning for the flick of a tail, the swish of a fin or a shadow slipping through the swell. Australia’s oceans are teeming with sharks, with great whites topping the list of species that might fatally chomp a human. Undeterred, Australians flock to the sea in huge numbers — with a survey last year showing that nearly two-thirds of the population made a total of 650 million coastal visits in a single year. Many beach lovers accept the risks. When a shark killed surfer Mercury Psillakis off a northern Sydney beach last
‘NO WORKABLE SOLUTION’: An official said Pakistan engaged in the spirit of peace, but Kabul continued its ‘unabated support to terrorists opposed to Pakistan’ Pakistan yesterday said that negotiations for a lasting truce with Afghanistan had “failed to bring about a workable solution,” warning that it would take steps to protect its people. Pakistan and Afghanistan have been holding negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey, aimed at securing peace after the South Asian neighbors’ deadliest border clashes in years. The violence, which killed more than 70 people and wounded hundreds, erupted following explosions in Kabul on Oct. 9 that the Taliban authorities blamed on Pakistan. “Regrettably, the Afghan side gave no assurances, kept deviating from the core issue and resorted to blame game, deflection and ruses,” Pakistani Minister of
RSS