LONDON (AP) — European Union regulators are investigating Shein over concerns the online retailer hasn't done enough to limit the sale of illegal products or protect users from the platform's allegedly addictive design.
The 27-nation bloc's executive arm said Tuesday that it opened formal investigation under the bloc's sweeping rulebook known as the Digital Services Act, which requires the biggest online platforms to take extra steps to protect internet users from dodgy products.
Shein may be required to alter its actions, or pay a hefty fine if a so-called non-compliance decision is reached following an in-depth investigation, the European Commission said.
One area its investigation is focusing on is whether Shein has the proper safeguards in place to limit the sale of products that are illegal in the EU, the commission said, including items that amount to child sexual abuse material such as "child-like sex dolls."
The the fast-fashion giant came under fire last year in France, where authorities found illegal weapons including firearms, knives and machetes as well as child-like sex dolls for sale on its website. The French government sought to suspend access to the Shein site in France. A court blocked that action and asked the commission to investigate under the bloc’s Digital Services Act.
The commission says it will also determine whether Shein has systems to mitigate risks related to what it says is the platform’s addictive design, which includes giving users points or rewards “for engagement.”
And regulators are also targeting the transparency of Shein’s recommendation systems that suggest more products to consumers. They’re concerned that the company doesn’t clearly explain to users why they’re being recommended specific products.
Shein said it takes its obligations seriously and will continue to cooperate with the commission.
The company said it has invested significantly in strengthening compliance with the DSA. The measures “comprehensive systemic-risk assessments and mitigation frameworks, enhanced protections for younger users, and ongoing work to design our services in ways that promote a safe and trusted user experience.”
“Protecting minors and reducing the risk of harmful content and behaviours are central to how we develop and operate our platform," the company said in a press statement.
FILE - Clothes by Chinese company Shein are seen in the BHV (Bazar de l'Hotel de Ville) department store, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
GENEVA (AP) — Iranian state TV announced Tuesday that Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz, an essential international waterway, for several hours due to “safety and maritime concerns” as it conducts live fire drills.
This is the first time that Iran has closed parts of the strait since the U.S. began threatening Iran with military action. Earlier, state TV announced that Iran had launched missiles into the Strait of Hormuz.
The announcement comes as Iran is participating in nuclear negotiations with the U.S. in Geneva, Switzerland.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
GENEVA (AP) — The U.S. and Iran are holding their second round of talks about Iran’s nuclear program Tuesday in Geneva as the United States ramps up its military presence in the Middle East and Iran holds large-scale maritime exercises.
As the talks began, Iranian media announced that Iran had fired live missiles toward the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had announced a maritime military exercise on Monday in waterways that are crucial international trade routes through which 20% of the world’s oil passes.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and along its coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state TV reported Tuesday that the negotiations with the U.S. will be indirect and will focus only on Iran’s nuclear program, not domestic policies including its bloody crackdown on protesters last month.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear program. Iran has said it would respond with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran over its deadly crackdown on recent nationwide protests.
The first round of talks Feb. 6 were held in Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, and were indirect. Similarly to the last round of talks, the Iranians appeared to be meeting with Omani mediators separately from the Americans on Tuesday.
Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were traveling for the new round of talks. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visiting Budapest, Hungary, said Monday that the U.S. hopes to achieve a deal with Iran, despite the difficulties. “I’m not going to prejudge these talks,” Rubio said. “The president always prefers peaceful outcomes and negotiated outcomes to things.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is leading the talks for Iran, met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Monday in Geneva.
“I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal,” Araghchi wrote on X. “What is not on the table: submission before threats.”
Talking to reporters Monday night aboard Air Force One on his way to Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump said he planned to be involved in the talks, at least indirectly. “I think they want to make a deal. I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal," he said.
The U.S. is also hosting talks between envoys from Russia and Ukraine in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday, days ahead of the fourth anniversary of the all-out Russian invasion of its neighbor.
The semi-official Tasnim news agency, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, said missiles launched inside Iran and along its coast had struck their targets in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran had announced that the Revolutionary Guard started a drill early Monday morning in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, which are crucial international shipping routes.
It is the second time in recent weeks that Iran has held a live fire drill in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stepped up his warnings to the U.S. over its buildup of military forces in the Middle East. “Of course a warship is a dangerous apparatus, but more dangerous than the warship is the weapon that can sink the warship into the depths of the sea,” Khamanei said, Iranian state TV reported.
He also warned the U.S. that “forcing the result of talks in advance is a wrong and foolish job."
Last week, Trump said the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets the U.S. has built up in the region.
The Ford, whose new deployment was first reported by The New York Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for over two weeks. U.S. forces already have shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln on the same day last week that Iran tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.
Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
The Trump administration is seeking a deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program and ensure it does not develop nuclear weapons. Iran says it is not pursuing weapons and has so far resisted demands that it halt uranium enrichment or hand over its supply of uranium.
The U.S. and Iran were in the middle of months of meetings when Israel’s launch of a 12-day war against Iran back in June instantly halted the talks. The U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites during that war, likely destroying many of the centrifuges that spun uranium to near weapons-grade purity. Israel’s attacks decimated Iran’s air defenses and targeted its ballistic missile arsenal as well.
Iran has insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.
Iran is marking 40 days, the traditional Muslim mourning period, since one of the deadliest days in the crackdown on protests that swept the country last month. Activists say at least 7,015 people have been killed, many in a bloody crackdown overnight between Jan. 8 and 9.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which offered the latest figures, has been accurate in counting deaths during previous rounds of unrest in Iran and relies on a network of activists in the country to verify deaths.
The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the death toll, given authorities have disrupted internet access and international calls in Iran.
Iran’s state news agency said the government would hold a memorial marking 40 days at the Grand Mosalla mosque in Tehran, and blamed the demonstrations on “violent actions by armed groups allegedly directed by foreign intelligence agencies.”
Liechtenstein reported from Vienna. Associated Press writer Melanie Lidman contributed from Tel Aviv, Israel.
FILE - In this photo released by the Oman's Foreign Ministry, Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, center, shakes hands with Oman's Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, accompanied by Jared Kushner, left, during a meeting prior to Iran and U.S. negotiations in Muscat, Oman, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Oman Foreign Ministry via AP, File)
FILE - In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, heads to the venue for talks between Iran and the U.S., in Muscat, Oman, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP, File)
FILE - Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi looks on during a meeting with Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, at Tahrir Palace in Cairo, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Khaled Elfiqi, File)
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, left, shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi during their meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
In this photo released by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, right, and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Grossi, left, hold a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. (Iranian Foreign Ministry via AP)
