By
AFP
Published
November 9, 2025
For now, the Asian platform Shein has avoided suspension in France. While it no longer sells “any illicit products” online, it remains “under close surveillance by state services,” the government announced on Friday, hailing a “fundamental victory.”
“Legal proceedings against Shein are continuing,” the French government said in a statement, adding that it will also initiate “new proceedings in the coming days” against other platforms on which “the sale of illicit products” has been observed.
On Wednesday, the authorities gave Shein 48 hours to comply with the law after the discovery on its site of child‑like sex dolls and Category A weapons.
In a statement on Friday, the government announced that it had “secured the removal by Shein of all illicit products sold on its platform.”
This outcome follows the platform’s decision to suspend its “marketplace,” where products from third‑party sellers are offered.
The Fraud Control Directorate found that “there are no longer any illicit products (such as items of a child‑pornographic nature, bladed weapons or medicines) on sale on Shein,” according to the government, which sees this as a “fundamental victory” for consumers and public order.
A further update is scheduled for next week at the request of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu.
However, Shein is far from out of the woods.
On Friday, the Interior Ministry referred the matter to the Paris judicial court with the aim of “putting an end to the serious damage to public order caused by Shein’s repeated failings,” according to the government.
In addition, with regard to the sale of dolls of a child‑pornographic nature, four investigations entrusted by the Paris public prosecutor’s office to the Office Mineurs are under way, according to the same source.
France has also sent a request for an investigation to the European Commission, “which has recognised the seriousness of the situation.”
More generally, “the authorities will actively monitor developments on the platform, in particular the maintenance of all precautionary measures taken by Shein,” with the government promising to take “all necessary measures to prevent the marketing of any illicit product.”
The other platforms targeted by the government were not named.
Contacted by AFP, Shein did not immediately respond.
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