On Friday 31 May, the European Commission announced that it had designated the Chinese online sales platform Temu as a ‘very large online platform’ (‘VLOP’) under the Digital Services Act (DSA).
The platform exceeded the threshold of 45 million monthly active users in the EU, the limit specified in the law. As of today, Temu has until the end of September to comply with the most stringent DSA rules applicable to VLOPs.
This includes in particular “the obligation to assess and mitigate any systemic risk arising from their services, including the marketing and sale of counterfeit products” as well as “the analysis of specific risks linked to the distribution of illegal content and products”.
Temu has already been criticised by European consumer associations for its commercial practices and the quality of its products.
Earlier this month, the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) accused Temu of breaching the DSA by manipulating its users into spending more.
BEUC has lodged a complaint with the European Commission, while 17 consumer organisations in the Member States, in particular France and Germany, have done likewise with their national authorities.
This designation makes Temu the 4th online sales platform to be considered a ‘VLOP’ by the DSA, and brings the total number of such designations to 24 (see EUROPE 13411/1).
See the BEUC press release: https://aeur.eu/f/ch4 (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)