The War on Porn Regular Updates about the Assault on The Adult Industry
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BRUSSELS—The European Commission announced Monday that it will initiate a Digital Services Act investigation into popular e-commerce platform Shein amid claims that the company hosts “adult” and “age-restricted” content and engages in the marketing and sale of “child-like sex dolls” and child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union (EU), is responsible for enforcing the Digital Services Act (DSA), a regulatory framework for online safety that includes age verification and measures to counter illegal activities. It’s the rulebook for the modern internet marketplace—less Wild West, more guarded storefront. If something wouldn’t fly in a physical shop window, the thinking goes, it shouldn’t get a free pass online either.
“In the EU, illegal products are prohibited—whether they are on a store shelf or on an online marketplace,” said Henna Virkkunen, the executive vice president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, in a press statement announcing the Shein investigation. “The Digital Services Act keeps shoppers safe, protects their well-being, and empowers them with information about the algorithms they are interacting with. We will assess whether Shein is respecting these rules and their responsibility.”
There’s something striking about that phrasing—store shelf or online marketplace. It’s a reminder that regulators are increasingly done pretending the internet is some separate universe. If anything, it’s more powerful. More intimate. And when minors are allegedly exposed to content they shouldn’t be seeing? That’s when patience runs thin.
Much of the investigation stems from French law enforcement efforts, including claims from a government watchdog that Shein and other fast fashion applications that are popular, namely Temu and Ali Express, were exposing minors to pornography. French authorities have been circling these platforms for a while now, particularly as they balloon in popularity among younger users who treat them like digital shopping malls.
Shein was scrutinized by the French government as it was about to open its first brick-and-mortar location in central Paris at the BHV department store. There’s an irony there—stepping into the physical world just as digital scrutiny tightens. It’s almost cinematic. One foot in glossy retail space, the other in regulatory quicksand.
Shein was also facing a ban in French digital spaces, but quickly avoided such action, as reported by the wire service Agence France-Presse via Deutsche Welle. The reprieve, at least for now, doesn’t mean the heat is off. It just means the next chapter is unfolding elsewhere.
“The Commission will now carry out an in-depth investigation as a matter of priority,” the EU says. “The opening of formal proceedings does not prejudge the outcome.”
That line—does not prejudge the outcome—feels carefully calibrated. It’s the regulatory equivalent of keeping a poker face. Serious, but measured. Accusations are one thing. Findings are another.
Other accusations made against Shein by the bloc’s leadership include addictive use, age-inappropriate design, and a lack of transparency, as mandated by the DSA. Those are broader critiques, and they hint at something bigger than a single listing or claim. They point to how platforms are built—how they nudge, how they design, how they quietly steer behavior. Anyone who’s ever lost an hour to infinite scroll knows exactly what that means.
“The DSA does not set any legal deadline for bringing formal proceedings to an end,” notes the EU. “The duration of an in-depth investigation depends on several factors, including the complexity of the case, the extent to which the company concerned cooperates with the Commission, and the exercise of the rights of defense.”
In other words: this could take a while.
And in that space—between allegation and outcome—something bigger hangs in the air. Not just the future of one platform, but the question of how far governments are willing to go to police the digital storefronts we wander through every day.
Because once regulators start treating online marketplaces exactly like physical ones, there’s no putting that genie back in the bottle.
