Illegal and Dangerous Products on Temu
The European Commission has fined the Chinese shopping platform Temu €200 million (£173 million) after a 19-month investigation uncovered widespread sales of dangerous and illegal products, including baby toys that pose choking hazards and electrical chargers that risk burns, electric shocks or fire. The penalty, the largest ever imposed under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), follows an unpublished mystery shopping exercise carried out for the commission that found a “high percentage” of unsafe baby items and a “very high percentage” of chargers that failed basic safety tests.
According to the commission, the risks are specific and severe. Consumer groups across Europe have previously flagged baby toys with detachable parts that could choke a child, dummy chains long enough to strangle, jewellery containing dangerous levels of lead, clothes made with banned chemicals, and chargers that failed to meet electrical safety standards. The mystery shopping exercise confirmed that consumers in the EU are “very likely” to encounter such illegal and unsafe products on Temu’s platform.
The investigation also highlighted the role of Temu’s internal systems in amplifying these dangers. The commission found that Temu’s risk assessment failed to evaluate how its recommender algorithms and influencer promotion programmes could increase the spread of illegal products. It is the first time EU regulators have formally recognised influencer marketing as a distinct risk factor for product safety under the DSA.
Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said Temu’s 2024 risk assessment “undermines concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive”. She added: “It leaves regulators, users and the public in the dark about the true scale of potential harm posed by illegal products sold on Temu. Now it is time for Temu to comply with the law.”
DSA Enforcement and Temu’s Response
The €200 million fine is the second and highest penalty issued under the Digital Services Act, which has applied to the world’s biggest tech companies since February 2024. It follows a €120 million fine imposed on Elon Musk’s X last December for deceptive verification badges and lack of advertising transparency. Under the DSA, penalties can reach up to 6% of a company’s global annual turnover. A senior EU official described the Temu breach as “particularly serious”, stemming from an inadequate risk assessment that relied on generic industry data rather than Temu’s own service-specific evidence, including public reports and product testing.
Temu, which has around 130 million monthly users in the EU – nearly a third of the bloc’s entire population – has the right to appeal the fine. A company spokesperson said: “Temu respects the objectives of the Digital Services Act and the need for clear, consistent rules across the digital economy. However, we disagree with the European Commission’s decision and consider the fine to be disproportionate. The decision relates to our first DSA assessment in 2024 and does not reflect the current state of our systems. Temu engaged constructively with the commission throughout the process and has since taken further steps to strengthen risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection.”
The commission is continuing other parts of its investigation into Temu, including looking at addictive design features, recommender system transparency and whether independent researchers have adequate access to the platform’s data. Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings, reported global revenues of $53.95 billion for the fiscal year ending December 2024, rising to approximately $61.34 billion in the twelve months to December 2025. In several European countries, Temu has captured significant market share – ranging from 71% of users in Poland to 42% in France. The Hungarian Competition Authority has separately fined Temu’s European operator, Whaleco Technology Limited, and ordered refunds to consumers for unfair commercial practices including misleading discounts and pressure tactics.
Temu now has until 28 August 2026 to submit a formal action plan to the commission detailing how it intends to remedy the identified breaches. The European Board for Digital Services will review the plan, and the commission will make a final decision within two months of receiving the board’s opinion. If Temu fails to comply with the decision, it could face periodic penalty payments of up to 5% of its average daily worldwide turnover.
