PARIS, France , 2 November (H.S.): The fast-fashion giant Shein is facing a major scandal in France after the country's consumer watchdog reported the company to authorities on Saturday, November 1, 2025, for selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance on its website.

France's Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) stated that the online descriptions and categorization of the dolls made it difficult to doubt the child pornography nature of the content.

The agency immediately referred the matter to French prosecutors and the country's online and broadcasting regulator, Arcom. One newspaper published a screenshot of a doll with the physique of a young girl holding a teddy bear, accompanied by a sexually explicit product description.

In response, Shein announced it had immediately delisted the products upon becoming aware of the issue.

The company has launched an internal investigation to determine how the items bypassed its screening measures and is conducting a review to remove any similar listings from other third-party vendors on its marketplace.

The controversy comes at a critical time for the Asian e-commerce behemoth, just days before it is scheduled to open its first permanent physical store in a prestigious Parisian department store.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar