Alibaba’s website AliExpress said it banned the sale of child sex dolls to a China-based seller on its marketplace, following a Reuters examination of whether the sale of the products complied with European Union and United States laws.
Reuters first alerted AliExpress to the ads on Nov. 14, when the company said it was removing them out of an abundance of caution, but that the dolls did not violate its policies because they were of rigid construction with no sexual function.
However, in a subsequent statement to Reuters on November 25, AliExpress said it had “decided to permanently close this seller due to his dishonesty in this serious matter.”
Reuters identified four listings of dolls resembling minors for sale in Europe and the United States through AliExpress in the week after Paris prosecutors said both the firm and online retailer Shein were being investigated for disseminating pornographic images or depictions of minors.
In interviews, four lawyers said the images found by Reuters on AliExpress included features commonly associated with child sexualization, including school uniforms and childlike expressions.
The products were offered by Guava Dolls, whose seller page on the AliExpress marketplace indicated that it was based in China’s Shandong province.
Guava Dolls did not respond to multiple requests for comment via email and social media.
“We found that the seller was dishonest in his communications with us. The seller repeatedly denied ever selling sex toys on any platform,” AliExpress said.
AliExpress said the seller had admitted, after being confronted with screenshots sent by Reuters, that it accepted custom orders on other platforms and had been permanently closed as a result.
AliExpress, Shein and Temu face increased regulatory obligations under the European Digital Services Act (DSA) due to their designation as very large online platforms (VLOPs).
A European Commission spokesperson told Reuters it was “carefully monitoring AliExpress’s compliance with the DSA.”
AliExpress told Reuters it would involve more third parties in the future to help monitor its platform.
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AliExpress stated that it had removed similar ads
The French investigation was launched when a consumer watchdog detected child sex dolls on the Shein market.
On Wednesday, the European Commission asked Shein to provide information on the measures it takes to protect minors from content inappropriate for their age and on the measures it takes to prevent illegal products from circulating on its platform.
Previously, Shein said it had sanctioned sellers of the dolls, enforced a global ban on sex dolls on its site and temporarily suspended its marketplace in France.
AliExpress told Reuters after announcing the investigation on Nov. 4 that it had removed similar ads and that sellers who violated its policies would be sanctioned.
According to its rules, content must not be sexually explicit or harmful to minors, and its advertising policies prohibit “any article that shows or suggests sex with minors.”
He had initially said that the products were “anime dolls” intended for fans of Japanese animation and not sex dolls.
The Guava Dolls account on X has been posting sexually explicit photos of the dolls since 2023, with links to AliExpress.
AliExpress declined to comment on those links.
In some European countries, such as France, Germany and Great Britain, selling or providing access to suggestive dolls for children is considered illegal, regardless of their functionality.
National consumer protection agencies often classify such items as similar to images of sexual abuse under child protection laws.
Lawyers to whom Reuters showed the AliExpress listings claimed they breached national and EU rules.
“The size of the doll, its very clear sexual characteristics and its suggestive lingerie make it a sexual object and not a toy,” said Christine Cerrada, a lawyer and legal adviser to the French child protection group L’Enfance au Coeur.
The dolls were on sale in EU countries such as France, Spain and Italy, as well as the United States and Great Britain.
With information from Reuters
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