The European Union has opened an investigation into Chinese retail giant Shein over its systems to prevent the sale of illegal products including child-like sex dolls.
The commission said its investigation would focus on the systems Shein has in place to limit the sale of illegal products in the European Union, “including content which could constitute child sexual abuse material, such as child-like sex dolls”.
It would also consider risks linked to the ”addictive design of the service”, including giving consumers points or rewards for engagement, adding that such features “could have a negative impact on users’ wellbeing and consumer protection online”.
The commission said it had opened formal proceedings under the Digital Services Act and would now carry out an in-depth investigation as a matter of priority, adding that “the opening of formal proceedings does not pre-judge the outcome”.
The investigation followed preliminary analysis of risk assessment reports provided by Shein and its replies to the commission’s formal requests for information, as well as information shared by third parties.
Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said: “In the EU, illegal products are prohibited – whether they are on a store shelf or on an online marketplace.
“The Digital Services Act keeps shoppers safe, protects their wellbeing and empowers them with information about the algorithms they are interacting with.
“We will assess whether Shein is respecting these rules and their responsibility.”
Shein said: “We take our obligations under the Digital Services Act seriously and have always co-operated fully with the European Commission and Coimisiun na Mean, as we will continue to do in this process.
“Over the last few months, we have continued to invest significantly in measures to strengthen our compliance with the DSA.
“These include comprehensive systemic-risk assessments and mitigation frameworks, enhanced protections for younger users and ongoing work to design our services in ways that promote a safe and trusted user experience.
“Following the issues identified last year, in addition to enhancement of detection tools, we also accelerated the rollout of additional safeguards around age-restricted products.
“In particular, we have engaged with the commission on the deployment of our age-assurance solution across the EU, using trusted third-party technology that balances compliance with both minor protection and privacy requirements.
“This solution complements our existing measures to prevent minors from viewing or purchasing age-restricted content or products.
“Protecting minors and reducing the risk of harmful content and behaviours are central to how we develop and operate our platform.
“We share the authorities’ objective of ensuring a safe and trusted online environment, and will continue to engage constructively.”
