Following some shortcomings by Shein, the French government—at the request of the Prime Minister and by way of a summons before the Paris Judicial Court—launched a procedure to temporarily block the platform to stop the severe damage to public order caused by the repeated failures of the platform.
The outrage in France over the e-tail Goliath’s sale of banned weapons and “childlike” sex dolls on its platform doesn’t appear to be dying down—just delayed. Despite taking down the listings last month, the Singapore-headquartered firm faced a three-month suspension if the French government succeeded in its appeal.
At the Dec. 5 Paris court hearing, Reuters reported that a state lawyer said Shein must implement website controls—such as age verification and filtering—to block minors from accessing pornographic content.
A decision in the case is expected on Dec. 19.
“The state has also requested that these measures be lifted only upon the implementation of truly effective technical means to prevent the sale of any illicit product,” Anne Le Hénanff, the French government’s minister delegate for artificial intelligence and digital technology, said in a statement. “The effectiveness of these control measures, product categorization, and the establishment of a system to screen minors would be placed under the supervision of Arcom.”
The state invoked Article 6.3 of France’s Digital Economy Law—an act that “gives a judge powers to prescribe measures with the aim of preventing or halting harm caused by online content,” according to Reuters. And, according to French law, the dissemination of representations of a pedopornographic nature via an electronic communications network is punishable by sentences of up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros, or $115,500.
“We don’t claim to be here to replace the European Commission,” a state lawyer said, as reported by France 24. “We are not here today to regulate, we are here to prevent harm, faced with things that are unacceptable.”
Le Hénanff and economy minister Roland Lescure wrote to Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, in early November, urging an immediate investigation into Shein.
“The repeated marketing of illegal content shows that the platform has failed to comply with its obligations under the Digital Services Act, particularly in terms of protecting minors, combating illegal content and ensuring the traceability of its sellers,” they wrote.
While Shein did not respond to Sourcing Journal’s request for comment, the fast fashion brand previously said it was “seeking dialogue” with local authorities and government bodies “on this issue.”
“Our priority is customer safety and marketplace integrity,” said Quentin Ruffat, Shein’s head of public affairs in France. “This suspension enables us to strengthen accountability and ensure every product meets our standards and legal obligations.”
Initiated as part of an accelerated judicial procedure intended to prioritize proceedings, the hearing summoned lawyers for both Shein and Infinited Styles Services—the Dublin-based company that operates its European websites and apps. The government also summoned the internet service providers Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR to the hearing to request that they block Shein’s website.
The hearing was initially scheduled for Nov. 26—exactly a month after France’s crackdown on the platform took a marked turn from previous debates over “eco-taxes” on fast fashion—before being postponed.
Meanwhile, several member states will send a joint letter urging collective action against the harmful effects of e-commerce platforms to the European Commission before the Dec. 8 “Competitiveness” Council meeting.
Tangentially, Shein is also facing a 3 billion-euro ($3.5 billion) lawsuit from thousands of French retailers accusing it of poaching customers through “misleading commercial practices” and “breaches of product conformity and safety obligations.”