It was French authorities who first noticed that the Chinese e-commerce site Shein was selling sex dolls depicting children.
The discovery created an outcry in France and also prompted the Swedish Minister of Social Services to summon e-retailers, authorities and children's rights organizations for a meeting, which took place on Friday.
Representatives from Amazon and Shein participated, among others, at the link.
Demanding responsibility
Waltersson Grönvall says afterwards that there is broad consensus on "doing everything to stop the sexualization of children."
I now assume that e-commerce companies also take their responsibility and do everything they can to stop the existence of these childlike dolls, she says and continues:
If we see that this is not happening to a sufficient degree, the government will not hesitate to also move forward with legislation in various ways.
According to Waltersson Grönvall, the ambition is to “come back with more concrete measures in the near future.”
Shein shares the image
In an email to TT, Shein writes that they share Waltersson Grönvall's goal of ending the sale of sex dolls depicting children.
“We maintain a continuous and constructive dialogue with regulatory authorities and we are grateful for the opportunity to inform the Minister and Swedish stakeholders about the measures we have taken to protect consumers,” Shein writes.
The e-commerce giant states that in the meeting with Waltersson Grönvall they stressed that they are working transparently with authorities throughout Europe to build a responsible regulatory framework.
Shein stopped selling the dolls on its platform about four weeks ago. According to Waltersson Grönvall, there is no information on how many dolls have been sold to Sweden at this time.
