Chinese e-commerce site removes paedophiliac sex doll after outrage

DHgate, a Chinese e-commerce platform, has deactivated the account of a Chinese retailer of child-like sex dolls after a social media campaign by a rights advocacy group stirred outrage.

An online seller based in Fujian province was selling silicone dolls resembling pre-teen girls on the retailing platform. The “real life baby doll” was advertised in children’s clothing and photographed next to children’s toys. It sold wholesale for US$178 per piece.

DHgate’s Facebook page was flooded with hundreds of messages criticising the sale of the child-like dolls after the New Jersey-based anti-human trafficking advocacy group Dining for Dignity launched a social media campaign against the product on Friday.

By Sunday evening, the silicone product was no longer on sale and the seller’s account had been deactivated.

DHgate “is against the selling of products that promote paedophilia,” a company spokesperson told Kelly Master, Dining for Dignity’s founder, in an emailed statement on Sunday. “Product listings for ‘child-like sex dolls’ have been removed.”

Kelly told the South China Morning Post the widespread outrage was vital to bring about the closure of the online store. “I wrote [DHgate] first, they didn’t respond to me,” said Kelly. “They blocked me and removed my comments [on Facebook], but then they started to get inundated with hundreds and hundreds of comments.”