An investigation has been opened concerning a company based in Savigny-le-Temple in Seine-et-Marne and marketing child-like sex dolls, the Melun prosecutor told AFP on Friday, confirming information from “Parisien”.
The investigation was opened against ObeyMe Dolls, which defines itself as “No. 1 in sex dolls and love dolls in France and Europe.” According to prosecutor Jean-Michel Bourlès, the investigation was opened “last week” after a “Pharos report”, a portal of the Ministry of the Interior where illicit content on the internet is declared. The High Commissioner for Children, Sarah El Haïry, subsequently also took legal action.
“Whether it is an international platform like Shein or a French company, my position is the same: if child criminal content or products are identified, the suppliers must transmit the names of the buyers to the courts,” declared the former minister in an article in Le Parisien published Friday. “No gray area will be tolerated, especially when the dealer of these horrors can be your neighbor, like here in Seine-et-Marne,” she added.
At the start of the week, the newspaper “La République de Seine-et-Marne” had already mentioned this company in an article, indicating that it was “in the sights” of the Mouv’enfants association.
On the ObeyMe Dolls company website, a message now indicates that “certain doll references have been removed from the catalog”. “This decision follows the recent issue related to doll compliance, mentioned in the media, and aims to strictly align ourselves with regulatory requirements,” explains the company.
Described as still minor
However, the site still offers products that may be controversial. One of the dolls, for example, is described as “still a minor” and “barely entering puberty”, while a category brings together all the products for those wanting a “teenage sex doll that evokes the image of youth and curiosity”.
The manager of the site, whom AFP sought to contact, without response for the moment, defended himself to the “Parisien”: “I do not offer child models and I have never presented these models as such. They look a little juvenile, like manga characters, inspired by the Japanese imagination. I have simply removed them from the site to avoid any confusion. “It’s already happened that people asked me for a children’s model, I immediately alerted Pharos!”, he adds.
Contacted by AFP, the Ministry of Commerce did not immediately comment on this new affair.
This opening of an investigation comes a few weeks after the outbreak of the scandal over the sale of child-like sex dolls sold by the Asian platforms Shein and AliExpress, into which the Paris prosecutor’s office announced at the beginning of the month the opening of an investigation.
Shein hearing postponed to December 5
These dolls, which are realistic sex toys, fall under the offense of disseminating the image or representation of a minor of a pornographic nature, punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. And the sale of child pornography content can be punished by seven years of imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 euros, according to the penal code.
A summons procedure before the judicial court, used against Shein and aimed at suspending the platform for three months, will also be initiated by the government against two other platforms, AliExpress and Joom, for sales of “child pornography dolls”, the Minister of Commerce Serge Papin announced on TF1 on Wednesday.
The Shein hearing, initially scheduled for Wednesday, has been postponed until December 5.
