Bol.com removes sex dolls resembling children after RTL investigation

Bol has temporarily removed its entire range of sex dolls from its site after an RTL report revealed that the platform had been offering dolls resembling minors. According to RTL, these products were still available on the webstore as recently as Tuesday, even though it had been banned since January 1.

According to RTL, the issue came to light in a court case last November, when a 38-year-old man was sentenced to prison for owning two such dolls as well as child sex abuse videos. The defendant’s lawyer stated that the dolls had been purchased through bol.

A spokesperson for bol said, “We enforce strict rules for our sex doll category, including standards for physical features. While it is unclear whether the dolls referenced in the RTL-reported court case were purchased through our sales partners, the verdict has led us to temporarily remove all sex dolls from our platform and carry out a detailed investigation.”

The French consumer authority recently found that illegal products had been sold not only by other online platforms but also by the Chinese retailer Shein. The company previously faced public outrage over sex dolls resembling children but narrowly avoided a ban in France after swiftly removing the offending products from its inventory.

The DGCCRF watchdog reported that AliExpress and Joom had also offered sex dolls resembling children. It further discovered that Wish, Temu, and Amazon did not adequately prevent minors from purchasing age-restricted products.

The European Commission asked Shein for information regarding the sex dolls resembling children recently sold on its platform. The matter sparked controversy in France and raised concerns in Brussels about potential risks to consumers across Europe. In a statement, the commission said it contacted the China-based platform “after preliminary evidence suggested that illegal products, notably sex dolls resembling children and weapons, were being offered on the marketplace.”

Following this, AliExpress removed a seller offering sex dolls resembling children from its platform. The company initially announced it would take down the listings from Chinese seller Guava Dolls as a precaution, claiming the dolls did not breach its rules because they were well-constructed and had no sexual function. The platform later took stricter action, stating, “We found that the seller had been dishonest in their communication with us.”