“Horrific and illegal items”: Shein and AliExpress are selling child sex dolls in France.

France’s fraud-control authority referred the matter to the courts after finding these items on the website of online fashion giant Shein, triggering widespread outrage. Shein is not the only platform implicated: AliExpress is also affected. Wish and Temu have been criticised for allowing unfiltered access to pornographic content.

France’s Directorate-General for Competition Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) said on Saturday 1 November that it had alerted the public prosecutor after identifying the sale on Shein of sexual dolls with a paedopornographic nature. The Economy Minister, Roland Lescure, has threatened to ban the Chinese platform. AliExpress is also involved. Temu and Wish have been flagged for different issues, linked to “unfiltered” access to pornographic material.

Items “hardly compatible with the law” on Shein

Fraud-control teams reported spotting sexual dolls designed with childlike features, and said their descriptions and categorisation “make it difficult to doubt the paedopornographic nature of the content”, according to a statement. The products, measuring around 80 centimetres, were accompanied by sexually suggestive descriptions.

The administration immediately reported the case to the public prosecutor and notified Arcom, France’s digital regulator. Shein, approached by the press, said it had removed the listings without delay and launched an internal investigation to understand how the adverts had evaded its filters.

“The products in question were immediately removed as soon as we became aware of them,” the company said, adding that it was “taking this matter extremely seriously”. The Economy Ministry confirmed that a judicial investigation has now been opened.

AliExpress, Temu and Wish also reported

Spotted by RMC, AliExpress was likewise reported by the DGCCRF to the Paris public prosecutor’s office for selling dolls with children’s features marketed as sexual items. Temu and Wish, meanwhile, were cited for distributing pornographic content “without filtering to limit access for minors”, Le Parisien also reported, adding that the fraud-control authority had contacted all three platforms to bring them into line with French law.

The government toughens its stance on Shein

Speaking on BFMTV, Roland Lescure did not mince his words. In the minister’s view, Shein has “crossed the line”. “If this behaviour is repeated, we will be entitled to do so - and I will call for it - that access to the Shein platform be banned from the French market,” he warned. He also stressed that “these horrific objects are illegal” and that the law allows the government to act if the content is not removed within 24 hours.

For her part, the High Commissioner for Childhood, Sarah El-Haïry, said on RTL that she would soon summon all the major e-commerce platforms. “I want to understand who authorised the sale of these objects, what processes are in place, and who the suppliers are, because there are clearly people producing these absolutely vile dolls,” she said.

This fresh controversy comes at an especially awkward moment for Shein, which is due to open its first physical shop worldwide this week at BHV Marais in Paris. The launch is already highly contentious. Despite having been convicted several times in 2025 in France, for total fines of 191 million euros, the group continues to report blistering growth.