Asia's online retail giants are being targeted by the French judicial system, which has launched investigations into the site Shein and its rivals AliExpress, Temu and Wish, in the name of protecting minors, for, among other things, offering child sex dolls.
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Late on Monday, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP it had assigned four investigations to the Office for Minors (Ofmin). These investigations relate to the “distribution of violent, pornographic or degrading messages accessible to minors” on four websites.
In the case of Shein and AliExpress, which offer dolls with the appearance of children, the investigation also aims to “distribute an image or depiction of a minor of a pornographic nature.”
The prosecution emphasizes that it has received reports from the Department for Combating Fraud (DGCCRF), which condemn “the availability of sexual content by minors, as well as the sale of sexual objects that have the appearance of children and, therefore, are of a child pornographic nature.”
Late Monday, Shein said it had removed all advertising and images related to “sex dolls” and had temporarily removed the “adult products” category from its listing. AliExpress has assured that “the relevant advertisements (identified in the report) have been removed.”
Threat of ban
“We will cooperate 100% with the justice system,” Quentin Ruffa, Shein’s representative in France, said on private radio RMC on Tuesday. After making sure that the company is ready to reveal the names of the buyers of the incriminated dolls.
“In terms of exchanging contacts, (…) we will be completely transparent with the justice system, if they ask us to do so, we will do so,” Mr Ruffa said.
Several political leaders stepped forward, with Economy Minister Roland Lescure threatening to ask: “If this behavior is repeated, (…) Shane's platform be banned from the French market.”
“This is completely unacceptable and raises the question more generally of how the European single market, including our internal market, is being overrun by counterfeit products,” added Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrault.
Shein will be heard within two weeks at the National Assembly by an information mission on the control of products imported into France.
“We are fed up because they are not objects like others,” condemned the High Commissioner for Children, Sarah El-Khairy, on BFM. “These are child crime targets that, unfortunately, predators train on, sometimes before moving on to abuse children,” she added.
“Indecent”
A company with Chinese roots that has conquered the global ultra-fast fashion market, Shein has gradually established itself in the online retail space since its arrival in France in 2015.
Regularly accused of unfair competition, pollution and undignified working conditions, Shein plans to open its first permanent brick-and-mortar store on Wednesday at BHV, a historic department store in central Paris.
At the front of the BHV, Shein CEO Donald Tang and Department Stores Company (SGM) owner Frederic Merlin appear smiling on a huge poster.
If he considers the sale of these dolls “indecent” and “unacceptable,” Frederic Merlin defended his partnership with Shane on Monday.
“The very principle of our partnership is clear: the store will sell only clothes and items designed and produced directly by Shein for BHV,” he assures. “No products in Shein’s international market are affected.”
The Origine France Garantie association is calling on the media to boycott Shein, whose store is scheduled to open ahead of the Made in France exhibition in Paris, from Thursday to Sunday.
For his part, Carl-Stéphane Cottenden, director of operations for operator Galeries Lafayette in France outside Paris, said on Monday on BFMTV that the schedule for opening Shein outlets in locations other than Paris should be “redefined,” without going into detail.
