Media Release: Strong action against sex dolls by e-commerce giant Alibaba

Mega e-commerce shopping platform Alibaba has announced it will block all sales of sex dolls to Australia.

The decision follows removal of all child sex abuse dolls and replica child body parts following a campaign by Collective Shout exposing multiple sellers on the platform. 

The company removed and penalised merchants in breach of its policies blocking the sale of dolls modelled on the bodies of prepubescent girls, toddlers and babies, following our investigations uncovering 23 suppliers on the marketplace. 

Collective Shout campaigns manager and doctoral candidate researching the global trade in sex dolls, Caitlin Roper, said the anatomically-correct dolls could even be custom-made to represent real children. 

“Child sex abuse dolls normalise child sexual abuse and put children at risk,” Ms Roper said. “Even though they are illegal, Australian Border Force has reported a 653% increase in seizures of these products in the past two years.”

As a result of our ongoing communications, Alibaba has gone even further, geo-blocking sale of all sex dolls to Australia. 

In a statement the company said:

“Alibaba-dot-com and AliExpress have voluntarily removed the sale of all sex dolls to users in Australia. We appreciate the support of Collective Shout and the broader community as part of the ongoing battle against the exploitation of women and children.”

Collective Shout calls on other shopping platforms, such as Etsy, which continue to trade in child sex abuse dolls and replica child body parts including of Asian girls, along with incest-themed merchandise, to remove these products. 

Etsy has failed to respond to condemnation for profiting from the sale of these reprehensible products. The e-commerce platform has ignored a change-dot-org petition https://www.change.org/p/etsy-stop-selling-incest-and-child-abuse-themed-merch launched by Melbourne musician, fashion designer, mother of five girls – and former Etsy seller - Anna Cordell. The petition has been signed by almost 49,000 people.

“Alibaba’s decision to put ethics and corporate social responsibility above profit is to be commended,” Ms Roper said. “It stands as an example to recalcitrant offenders like Etsy, which refuse to acknowledge the harm they are doing.”

November 17, 2021

Contact:

Caitlin Roper, Campaigns Manager, email: [email protected] 

Melinda Tankard Reist, Movement Director, email: [email protected]