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The EU on Tuesday, February 17, opened an investigation into the online retail giant Shein over the sale of childlike sex dolls and what it called the platform’s “addictive design.” Shein came under greater scrutiny in November after French authorities condemned the giant for featuring sex dolls resembling children.

The probe is the European Commission’s first into Shein under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the EU’s mammoth law that aims to counter the spread of illegal content and goods online. The European Commission said it was investigating the sale of illegal products “including child sexual abuse material” and would look at the “lack of transparency” of Shein’s recommender systems.

Shein, founded in China in 2012 but now based in Singapore, said it would continue to cooperate with the commission. “We share the commission’s objective of ensuring a safe and trusted online environment and will continue to engage constructively on this procedure,” Shein said in a statement. Following the uproar in France, Shein said it immediately removed the products and banned sex dolls from its site globally, regardless of appearance.

  • empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    23 hours ago

    Yeah. Pedophilia is a mental illness, and generally speaking enabling the fantasies of a mentally ill patient is not a good way to treat it.

    • gdog05@lemmy.world
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      22 hours ago

      That would be true, except almost every country on the planet has made it illegal to admit the thoughts, so they can’t get help. They can’t help that they have the thoughts and then they can’t get help to fix it. We’ve (seemingly all of humanity) made their existence illegal and then refuse the social accountability of helping them correct things. I think it was an Australian psychiatrist who set up the anonymous hotline for people who wanted help. That’s the only time and place I’ve heard about people able to get help in this way.

      And, to add insult to injury, it really seems to be almost entirely created by trauma. So, the people who would victimize are victims themselves and our universal stance is “sorry, you can’t exist.”

      • bstix@feddit.dk
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        14 hours ago

        It’s possible in Denmark too. However they usually only get to the conclusion that they need help after they have been caught in possession of illegal materials.

        The psychologists working on it have difficulty getting funding for research. The questions are if it really is a disease on it’s own and if it’s treatable. There’s not a lot of valid data to work with. This made the news last year or so.

        I’m no psychologist but my impression is that it’s more like a symptom of a different trauma, which might make more sense to throw money at. It would be interesting to hear from the psychologists who work in prisons.

        Anyway, the foundation Save The Children has hotlines for young people who are concerned with their sexuality in one way or the other.