Shein’s app runs on the tricks the FTC calls ‘dark patterns.’ Now the FTC is investigating.

Shein wanted its Hong Kong listing to be about growth. Instead, the filing meant to sell that story revealed a US regulator is investigating the company, and Shein will not say why.

The disclosure sits in the draft prospectus for Shein’s planned IPO, Reuters reported. Its US business, the filing said, is under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. An FTC spokesperson confirmed a consumer-protection inquiry. This appears to be the probe’s first public disclosure.

A probe with no stated target

Shein did not say what the FTC is looking at. It said only that it is cooperating, and that it cannot predict the outcome or the timing. The warning it gave investors was blunter. Any resolution, it wrote, could force “significant monetary payments” with “a material adverse effect on our financial condition.”

The FTC polices unfair and deceptive business practices. It has taken on other marketplaces and platforms,...

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