The European Commission has opened an investigation into Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, examining potential breaches of EU rules designed to prevent the sale of illegal products. This could result in significant fines for Temu if it's found to be non-compliant with regulations.
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The inquiry, launched under the Digital Services Act (DSA), will scrutinise Temu's compliance with the EU's standards, particularly concerning its content moderation systems and user safety mechanisms. The DSA mandates that large online platforms proactively address illegal and harmful content, a requirement Temu is suspected of failing to meet following multiple complaints.
EU regulators will further examine Temu's platform design, especially features resembling games that may encourage prolonged user engagement. Temu's recommendation algorithms, which guide users towards certain purchases, are also under review for potentially prioritising addictive behaviour over user well-being.
The EU Commission is also set to investigate whether Temu provides researchers with access to its publicly available data, as required by the DSA.
Temu, which operates under Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings and boasts 92 million users across the EU's 27 countries, stated that it would fully cooperate with the investigation.
More information:
European Commission
www.ec.europa.eu