"Taming Temu" - European Consumer Organisation files complaint with European Commission
The rapidly growing popularity of Temu, a subsidiary of Chinese group Pinduoduo, worries European consumer organisations. The app, which already serves more than 75 million monthly users in the European Union, violates the rules of the Digital Services Act, or so the BEUC – the umbrella organisation defending European consumer interests – claims.
Among the breaches BEUC has identified, Temu is:
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failing to provide sufficient traceability of the traders that sell on its platform and thereby to ensure that the products sold to EU consumers conform to EU law.
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using manipulative practices such as dark patterns to get consumers, for example, to spend more than they might originally want to, or to complicate the process of closing down their account.
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failing to provide transparency about how it recommends products to consumers.
As a result, BEUC filed a complaint with the European Commission, while 17 of BEUC’s members filed the same complaint with their competent national authorities,
the organisation said in a press release titled "Taming Temu".
“For example, those who click on a product are not only presented with that one product, but also a number of other more expensive ones. And deleting your account also turns out to be a lot harder than creating an account”, said Test-Achats spokeswoman Laura Clays said.
Consumer organisations also criticise the company for not providing enough information about the algorithms that determine which products is suggested to consumers.
There have also been longstanding concerns about the safety of products sold on Temu, and the sale of counterfeit products.
The complaint will appear before a judge in Ireland, where the marketplace has its European headquarters.
Cover photo: Nikos Pekiaridis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
