Childlike sex dolls being advertised on Facebook

Content warning: This article contains potentially disturbing images

Disturbing childlike sex dolls are being advertised on Facebook, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ) can reveal.

A group of websites selling small dolls with overtly childlike features have published more than 1,300 adverts on the platform. The dolls are notably realistic in appearance and many of the adverts use photos of them in sexualised poses, some holding balloons or teddy bears.

The adverts breach the rules of Facebook’s parent company Meta and most have been taken down. But TBIJ found around 20 that had been published since November 2024 and were still listed on Meta’s ad library, suggesting that they had evaded the platform’s takedown processes.

The pages publish new ads every day, some staying up for a couple of weeks at a time. Half a dozen adverts were active on the platform this week. Meta will have continued to receive money for every new advert published.

While it is not a crime in the UK to own a childlike sex doll, Crown Prosecution Service guidance suggests that someone could be breaking the law by importing or selling (or intending to sell) such an item, or by sending it in the post.

Australia, Germany, Norway and Denmark have criminalised the possession of such items.

These dolls are being sold by a website that has been promoting its services using Facebook ads. TBIJ found six Facebook pages run by admins based in Poland, Indonesia, India and other undisclosed locations. These pages only post ads for sex dolls and combined have more than 600 followers.

One anonymous user commented on a post featuring one of the dolls with a complaint that its finger joints were not lifelike enough. “To tell the truth [the 120cm doll] is not at the same level of precision as the 110,” they wrote.

The adverts direct users to one of three websites, all of which have a near-identical design and appear to sell exactly the same items. Two of the sites list the same contact details.

One of the sites, which sells a “mini sex doll” resembling a young girl for £266, uses its listing page to reassure customers that the item is legal. “Child sex dolls are illegal in most countries,” it says. “But mini sex dolls are fundamentally different from child sex dolls … they look like child sex dolls, but actually they’re not!”

TBIJ contacted the site posing as a potential customer concerned about buying a mini doll and getting it through customs. The business replied saying that it “[has] a lot of clients from the UK and most of them have bought over two dolls from us”. It said it was responsible for customs clearance and that none of its clients ever had any issues.

Last month, a 43-year-old man from Romford was given an 18-month community order after pleading guilty to importing a sex doll as well as four other offences involving indecent or prohibited images.

Meta’s advertising rules ban anything promoting “the sale or use of adult sexual arousal products”. The platform also prohibits posts depicting or supporting the sexual exploitation of children – including dolls.

Its ad review process mostly uses automated tools to scan the text, images and videos used in ads to find content which violates its policies.

A Meta spokesperson said: “Ads that violate our policies have no place on our platform, and we’ve removed the content brought to our attention.”

The websites selling the dolls did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesperson from the National Crime Agency (NCA) told TBIJ that “there is no legitimate reason for having child-like sex abuse dolls, and it is our view that those purchasing such products pose a significant risk to children. We treat the attempted importation of such products seriously and with colleagues in policing pursue such enquiries to ensure children are protected.”

They added that the NCA continues to work closely with the Home Office, Border Force and policing partners, to explore all possible interventions in tackling child sexual abuse.

In Ireland, authorities seized multiple childlike sex dolls during raids across Dublin, Cork, Waterford, Meath, Monaghan and Galway in 2018. Customs officers were instructed that such dolls manufactured for sexual purposes constitute child pornography material under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.