Alibaba, one of the world's largest online retailers, is reportedly selling anatomically perfect and life-like sex dolls modeled on minors – even infants and toddlers – in the Australian market. Advocacy group Collective Shout unearthed a shockingly large number of dolls based on pre-pubescent minors on the marketplace after a thorough investigation. Alibaba has previously promised to take down such listings from its website.

In one disturbing video, a merchant is seen demonstrating a baby doll with replica genitalia and how it could be "used." “I’ve been an activist with Collective Shout for 10 years and this is the most disturbing content I’ve seen,” campaigner Melinda Liszewski told news.com.au. “It is deeply distressing to view.” The probe uncovered a considerable number of child sex dolls being sold on the platform, where at least 18 different suppliers marketed them in various versions like “young girl, flat chest and sex dolls for men" and they ranged in price from $175 to $350 (AU$250 to AU$500).

According to the outlet, some of the models were as small as 65cm, which is roughly equivalent to the height of a six-month-old baby. 

“At a time when there is more awareness of child sexual abuse than ever, how is it that a multi-billion dollar mainstream corporation like Alibaba can profit from normalizing the rape of babies?” Liszewski said.

While owning a child sex doll is illegal under Australian law, Collective Shout found that sellers on Alibaba were offering shipping to local buyers nonetheless. The Chinese-based e-commerce giant raked in approximately $72 billion (AU$102 billion) in revenue last year, according to the outlet.

Caitlin Roper, campaigns manager at Collective Shout, explained to news.com.au that the dolls uncovered from Alibaba were "far from harmless."

“Child sex abuse dolls are designed to facilitate users’ fantasies of raping a child,” Roper said. “This is not a victimless crime – these lifelike dolls normalize and legitimize the sexual use and abuse of children.”

Lifelike child sex dolls could possibly lead to an increase in the sexual abuse of children, according to an Australian Institute of Criminology report in 2019. 

"One listing described a toddler doll as 'cute' and 'soft' and 80cm tall," according to news.com.au. "Another was for a female doll described as a “small breast, young girl” and coming in pieces so it could be disassembled and stored in a suitcase."

That said, this is not the first time Alibaba has landed in hot water for selling child sex dolls. In 2018, an independent investigation by the Hong Kong Free Press caused the e-commerce platform to remove several listings. Another report by the Straits Times exposed various sellers of such dolls on the platform as recently as January this year.

A spokesperson for Alibaba has previously said in a statement it proactively monitors its website for such controversial listings.

“We maintain a robust product listing policy that prohibits the listing by third-party sellers of any items depicting or suggestive of sex involving minors, and third-party sellers in breach of the policy are subject to our disciplinary measures," the company said. "After notification of a number of such listings, we have taken action to remove them.”

Liszewski also revealed that some of the child sex dolls she uncovered were "verified" by Alibaba. As of now, Collective Shout is calling for payment companies to stop doing business with the Chinese giant until it takes effective steps to stop the sale of these dolls.