PARIS, Dec 28 — France has opened an investigation into a British e-commerce site suspected of selling sex dolls with childlike features, Paris prosecutors told AFP on Friday.
The probe into the “Little Sex Dolls” site is the fifth French investigation into online sellers of products with alleged links to pornography.
Sarah El Hairy, France’s high commissioner for children, announced earlier this week to AFP that she had filed a legal complaint against the British site which delivers its products to France.
The prosecutors’ office said it had asked the national office for the protection of minors and the cyber criminality office to take part in the police investigation.
“These products are dangerous,” El Hairy said. “They feed pedo-criminal behaviour and endanger the safety of our children.”
She said the identity of buyers of the sex dolls should be made available to the authorities.
Last month, the discovery of childlike sex dolls on the Shein platform caused outrage in France and prompted an investigation.
The platforms Ali Express, Temu and Wish were also being probed for alleged violations of laws against publishing messages of a violent or pornographic nature able to be accessed by minors.
Around 20 people suspected of online purchases of childlike sex dolls were arrested during a major French police operation this month.
Shein, founded in China in 2012 but now based in Singapore, has vowed to cooperate with French authorities and said it is banning all sex dolls. — AFP
