Temu, the Chinese online megastore that gained fame by offering dirt-cheap prices for products less durable than the cardboard boxes they’re shipped in, is now facing the ire of the European Union for failing to keep illegal and unsafe products off its platform.
The investigation stems from the EU’s Digital Services Act, a sweeping set of rules that, among other things, requires that if you sell products online, they not be hazardous materials that could potentially harm someone.
Just like the exercises run by a retailer’s quality assurance department, EU regulators unleashed a team of mystery shoppers on Temu.
Temu Shoppers at ‘High Risk’ of Seeing Illegal Products, EU Says
They found non-compliant items throughout the site—everything from small gadgets to children’s products that posed real safety hazards. The specifics of what made them illegal weren’t disclosed, but the gist of it is that they found a lot of cheap, unsafe products that could harm people.
The EU’s early findings claim Temu used a one-size-fits-all risk assessment based on industry averages rather than specifics about its own sketchy virtual flea market. That, combined with allegedly weak controls on rogue sellers who resurface after being removed, suggests the platform isn’t doing nearly enough to clean up its digital shelves.
Temu has the opportunity to respond before the EU imposes a fine of up to 6 percent of its annual global revenue. Considering that Temu has 92 million annual customers in the EU alone, that could end up being a hefty bill that could buy millions of cheap phone chargers that will break a day after they arrive.
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