On Thursday, 31 October, the European Commission launched an investigation into Chinese e-commerce platform Temu, which has been accused of breaking rules set out in the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Temu has been in the EU’s crosshairs since last June—when the European Commission ordered the platform to provide it with certain information (see EUROPE 13442/6)—and is now suspected of not taking sufficient action against the sale of illegal products that are potentially dangerous for European consumers.
The European Commission also mentioned several other complaints against the platform: its lack of mitigation with respect to the risks associated with the addictive design of the service, including its game-like rewards programmes; the management of its internal recommendation system; and its compliance with the obligation to give researchers access to public data.
The platform now has 92 million users in the EU, that being nearly 20 million more users than in April, when the European Commission designated it as a ‘very large online platform’ (‘VLOP’) under the DSA (see EUROPE 13421/8).
It offers a wide selection of products ranging from clothing to toys, including tools and high-tech products. “It’s a platform that immediately attracted customs’ attention as well as the attention of consumer protection associations and the EU’s executive branch”, affirms a senior EU official.
For several weeks now, many people have been speaking up to warn of the dangerous nature of certain products sold, whose origins have not been verified and which do not comply with European standards (see EUROPE 13507/15).
The European Commission’s investigation comes after the platform was sent several warnings and written questions (see EUROPE 13502/9), the most recent of which dates back to 10 October.
At the end of September, six European Union countries, including France and Germany, had asked the European Commission to turn up the heat on Temu and similar platforms (see EUROPE 13491/3).
According to a senior European official, the EU swiftly decided to launch an investigation due to the platform’s unprecedented expansion: “The answers addressing our concerns were not really satisfactory, and Temu is developing very, very quickly. So, it was time to set up monitoring systems.”
In France, the post office recently affirmed that around 22% of the parcels it handles come from Temu or Shein. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)