France will take online marketplaces AliExpress and Joom to court for selling child-like sex dolls, Commerce Minister Serge Papin announced on Wednesday. The move comes as Shein faces separate legal action for offering similar products.
“There will be a judicial complaint against these two platforms from the state, since they also sell child abuse dolls,” Papin told TF1 television, linking the step to a wider effort already launched after concerns first emerged around Shein.
Papin’s office later said the State will file a civil case against both platforms. This uses the same legal procedure already applied to Shein and formally notifies a company that a case has begun.
Economy Minister Roland Lescure also raised the issue on Wednesday. “When you sell things that are banned, we request your suspension,” he told France Inter radio.
Lescure said the government intends to apply the law strictly and pointed to its plan to introduce a tax on small parcels as part of that approach.
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Wider crackdown
The legal action follows findings by consumer watchdog the Directorate General for Competition Policy Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control, which discovered that AliExpress and Joom “also sold child-like sex dolls”.
Papin said earlier said that Wish, Temu, AliExpress and eBay “sold category A weapons such as knuckledusters and machetes”.
He said that six platforms had been reported to the authorities after the Shein scandal broke, including five singled out for selling illegal products.
AliExpress has said "the listings concerned have been removed”, after a judicial inquiry opened at the start of November. The platform did not provide further details.
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Shein hearing
Shein faces a separate court hearing in Paris on Wednesday, where the government will ask for a three-month suspension of the company’s website in France.
Shein has said it imposed a “total ban on sex doll-type products” and removed all related listings. The company disabled its marketplace in France on 5 November, though its clothing site remains accessible.
Papin said the actions also aim to protect “our industry” and “our retailers”, and that they seek to end what he called a “digital Wild West”.
“This is a battle, if I may say, where we need to bring in a dose of protectionism,” he said.
France has summoned major internet service providers Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR to the Shein hearing and is urging the European Commission to open a formal investigation into Shein.
