France Suspends Online Access to Shein as Retailer Opens First Store in Paris

France announced that it is suspending access to Shein’s online platform until the company proves that its content conforms with French law on Nov. 5, following a controversy over childlike sex dolls being listed on the Chinese fashion company’s website.

“On the Prime Minister’s instructions, the government is initiating the suspension of Shein for the time necessary for the platform to demonstrate to the authorities that all of its content is finally compliant with our laws and regulations,” Paris’s Finance Ministry said in a statement, adding that a preliminary progress report would be provided within 48 hours.

The announcement from the government came on the same day the retail giant opened its first physical store in the world, in the Parisian department store BHV.

Following the announcement, Shein said in a statement that it would “address any concerns swiftly.”

“We are seeking dialogue with the authorities and government bodies on this issue,” it stated.

It added that it had independently decided to temporarily suspend its marketplace in France to “review and strengthen” how third-party sellers operate on the site.

The Epoch Times contacted Shein for comment but received no response.

Shein, which is headquartered in Singapore but was founded by Chinese billionaire Chris Xu in Nanjing in 2008, is primarily known for shipping cheap fashion products to consumers around the world.

However, the company also sells a large selection of products from third-party vendors on its marketplace.

Before the ban was announced on Nov. 5, French lawmaker Antoine Vermorel-Marques had pointed out listings on the site for brass knuckles, which are banned in France, and other weapons, in a post on X.

“This is too much. After child pornography dolls, now weapons,” Commerce and Small Business Minister Serge Papin said in the French Parliament on Nov. 5, before ordering the suspension of the platform, French news outlet TF1 Info reports.

French authorities have the legal power to order online platforms to remove clearly illegal content such as child pornography within 24 hours, and failure to comply could result in a requirement that internet service providers and search engines block and delist the offending site.

The issue of the childlike sex dolls and allegations over Shein’s environmental and labor record had already drawn protesters out onto the streets of Paris outside the BHV to object to the opening of the physical store.

In addition, an online petition opposing the opening had received more than 120,000 signatures on Change.org.

France is not the first Western country to take issue with Shein. The retailer was fined 1 million euros ($1.15 million) by the Italian Competition Authority in August over “misleading” and “deceptive” environmental claims.

In May, Shein and other Chinese e-retailers were hit by U.S. President Donald Trump’s ending of duty-free treatment of low-value packages from China. On July 30, Washington expanded the order to end the treatment worldwide, affecting the retailers’ suppliers elsewhere.

The European Union, also in May, said its investigation into Shein found that the company violated EU consumer law in a number of ways, including making misleading sustainability claims, offering fake discounts, providing incorrect and misleading information, using deceptive product labels, and using pressure-selling tactics.

The company is also facing resistance from lawmakers in the UK against its bid to list on the London Stock Exchange.

UK Business and Trade Committee Chair Liam Byrne, one of the leading opponents of Shein’s listing in London, has pressured the company about whether its garments involve forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, where there are documented cases of Uyghurs subject to murder, torture, and rape in reeducation camps.

Lily Zhou and Reuters contributed to this report.