At a Shein clothing factory in Guangzhou, China, on April 1, 2025.
Shein and AliExpress are under fire for selling sex dolls with childlike appearances. Between November 1 and 2, criticism, led mainly by the French government, expanded to target the sale of sex dolls accessible to minors without age restrictions, implicating other platforms such as Wish and Temu.
What are Shein and its competitors accused of?
On Friday, October 31, France’s consumer watchdog, the DGCCRF, found childlike sex dolls for sale on Shein. The agency reported Shein to prosecutors, stating it was “difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.” Prosecutors launched an investigation. Similar dolls were later found on AliExpress, which is now also under judicial investigation.
The two platforms, along with Temu and Wish, also offer other sex dolls, which are legal. A separate investigation into the four companies was launched for making pornographic products available without age filtering. A simple online search shows that the same types of products are also available, without age checks, on Amazon, eBay and Rakuten.
Can Shein’s website be blocked?
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