Online retailer Bol has temporarily taken its entire sex doll assortment offline following a report by Dutch broadcaster RTL. The broadcaster reported that sex dolls with child-like features were being sold through the online store.
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Web shop Bol.com takes sex dolls offline after report about child-like models
Colin Clapson
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Bol.com is a leading market place in Belgium and the Netherlands serving customers in both countries. It is owned by the Belgo-Dutch conglomerate Ahold Delhaize.
RTL referred to a court case in which a 38-year-old man was sentenced to prison last November for possessing two of these dolls, in addition to possessing images of child abuse. According to the defendant's lawyer, the sex dolls were purchased from Bol.com.
"We have a strict policy regarding our sex dolls. It includes requirements about physical characteristics. Although we do not know whether the dolls mentioned in the court case reported by RTL were actually purchased through one of our sales partners, the ruling in this case has prompted Bol to temporarily remove the entire sex doll category from its website and conduct a thorough investigation," the company's spokesperson said.
In November, the Swedish children's rights organisation ChildX filed a complaint against the American online retailer Amazon, which allegedly sold similar sex dolls.