It joins Facebook, Google, X (formerly Twitter), Amazon, Aliexpress and TikTok among the large companies whose controls are reinforced. Shein, the Chinese fast fashion giant, will have to submit to reinforced controls in the European Union from the end of August. A decision based on the new digital services legislation (DSA), which imposes stricter rules on 23 international platforms. The goal ? “Protecting consumers against illegal content,” announced the European Commission in a press release.
Shein, which has its headquarters in Singapore, sells its clothing exclusively online, to a young clientele very present on social networks. It claims 108 million users of its site in the European Union each month, significantly more than the threshold of 45 million from which players can be subject to reinforced regulation.
These companies must in particular analyze the risks linked to their services in terms of dissemination of illegal content or products and put in place means to mitigate them. “Measures should be implemented to protect consumers against the purchase of dangerous or illegal products, with particular emphasis on preventing the sale and distribution of products that could be harmful to minors,” a explained the Commission.
Hefty fines for offenders
Violators of the rules can be fined up to 6% of their annual global turnover, or even banned from operating in Europe in the event of serious and repeated violations. “We share the Commission’s ambition to ensure that EU consumers can shop online with peace of mind and are committed to playing our part,” said Leonard Lin, Global Head of Public Affairs at the Commission. band. Shein should not be the only one to see conditions get tougher. Soon, the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu should suffer the same fate.
Recently, the DSA showed its effectiveness by requiring TikTok to suspend the functionality of its new TikTok Lite app in the EU, which rewards users for screen time. Brussels also opened an investigation in December targeting the social network X for alleged breaches of content moderation obligations.