EU Investigates Shein Over ‘Addictive Designs’ and Sales of Childlike Sex Dolls

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Feb 18, 2026 - 10:52 Updated: Feb 18, 2026 - 10:44
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EU Investigates Shein Over ‘Addictive Designs’ and Sales of Childlike Sex Dolls

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The European Union has opened an in-depth investigation into online fashion retailer Shein over the sale of illegal items and what it calls the Chinese-owned platform’s “addictive design.”

The probe, announced on Feb. 16 by the European Commission, marks the bloc’s first formal proceeding against the company under the Digital Services Act (DSA), a set of sweeping online regulations that governs nearly all corners of the digital ecosystem, from e-commerce platforms to social media networks.

Brussels said it is investigating the sale of illegal products “including child sexual abuse material,” citing in particular child-like sex dolls that were found on Shein’s marketplace. The company came under scrutiny in France in late 2025 after authorities discovered lifelike sex dolls resembling young girls on the site, along with illegal weapons. The French government moved to suspend access to Shein’s website, but a court blocked the move and instead asked Brussels to step in under the DSA.
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The controversy, EU officials said, exposed broader concerns about whether Shein poses “a systemic risk for consumers across the entire European Union.” They have asked the company to provide information on how it ensures that minors are not exposed to age-inappropriate content, as well as how it prevents the circulation of illegal products on its platform.
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Investigators will also look into Shein’s “addictive design,” including the use of gamified features such as points, rewards, and other incentives for frequent engagement. EU officials have said that such designs may encourage excessive use, particularly among younger users, and undermine consumer protection and users’ mental well-being.

Another focus of the inquiry will be the alleged “lack of transparency” around the algorithms Shein uses to recommend content and products to users. Under the DSA, “very large platforms,” defined as those with over 45 million users in the EU, must disclose the main parameters of their recommender systems and offer at least one easily accessible option that is not based on profiling.

A spokesperson for Shein said the company takes its “obligations under the DSA seriously” and will cooperate with investigators.

“Over the last few months, we have continued to invest significantly in measures to strengthen our compliance with the DSA. These include comprehensive systemic-risk assessments and mitigation frameworks, enhanced protections for younger users, and ongoing work to design our services in ways that promote a safe and trusted user experience,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

The investigation is the latest in a series of actions the EU has taken that affect Chinese-owned tech and e-commerce firms.

From July 1, 2026, Brussels will begin collecting a flat 3-euro (about $3.55) charge on each low-value item in small parcels worth under 150 euros (about $178) sent directly from non-EU countries to consumers in the bloc, a measure widely seen as aimed at platforms such as Shein, Temu, and AliExpress. According to official figures, about 4.6 billion such parcels entered the EU in 2024, an overwhelming 91 percent of them from China.
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Temu is also under DSA investigation over alleged “addictive design” and the sale of unsafe or illegal goods. A separate probe into AliExpress, owned by China-based e-commerce giant Alibaba, produced preliminary findings that the platform is “in breach of its obligation to assess and mitigate risks related to the dissemination of illegal products under the DSA.”
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More recently, on Feb. 6, the commission warned popular video-sharing platform TikTok that it must overhaul its “addictive design” to comply with the DSA. The service, whose European operations are owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could face a fine of up to 6 percent of its global revenue if it fails to address those concerns.

“In the EU, illegal products are prohibited—whether they are on a store shelf or on an online marketplace. The Digital Services Act keeps shoppers safe, protects their well-being and empowers them with information about the algorithms they are interacting with,” Henna Virkkunen, the EU tech commissioner, said on Feb. 17.

Chinese authorities have been critical of EU efforts to tighten digital regulations. In January, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused the EU of “blatant protectionism” and “political manipulation” after the bloc, citing risks of cyberattacks, recommended that all member states remove Huawei and ZTE from their telecom networks within the next three years.

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