The shopping app everyone's downloading might be playing you
Stats show that more and more people in the United States prefer to shop online. | Image credit – Oberlo But as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for," and that lower price tag can sometimes mean lower quality. That is where Temu comes in.
Temu, the Chinese shopping app known for selling pretty much everything at ultra-low prices, was the most downloaded app in the US last year. And it is not just dominating in the States – in 2024, it is also topping the app charts in the UK, Germany, France and Italy. And with so many people turning to Temu for their shopping needs, regulators in the European Union (EU) started to take a closer look.
The European Commission has stepped up its investigation into Temu under the Digital Services Act (DSA), claiming the company is failing to monitor and report how many illegal products are being sold through its platform. A mystery shopping test revealed that users are highly likely to come across non-compliant items – including baby toys and small electronics that don't meet safety standards.
– Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, July 28, 2025 The Commission began looking into Temu last year as part of the broader DSA push, which has also brought major tech companies like Google, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok and even Elon Musk's X under scrutiny. But Temu's charge sheet includes serious claims like using addictive app design to keep users shopping longer and failing to block the sale of illegal goods. And that is not all. A separate probe under EU consumer protection law is also looking into some of Temu's sketchy practices, like fake reviews and fake discounts – things that can seriously mislead shoppers.The Commission says it will continue digging into Temu's other suspected violations, including how well its risk-reduction measures actually work, how transparent its recommendation algorithms are, whether it is using manipulative design to hook users and whether researchers have access to its data.If the EU's preliminary findings hold up, Temu could be hit with an official non-compliance ruling – and the consequences wouldn't be small. We are talking fines of up to 6% of its global revenue, plus mandatory changes to bring the platform in line with EU rules.
Given that Temu's worldwide revenue in 2024 is estimated at $70.8 billion, that fine could climb as high as $4 billion. To put that in perspective, that is more than what Google was fined in the EU for allegedly rigging its shopping search results to edge out smaller rivals.
I think laws like the DSA are exactly the kind of pushback we need against shady online practices. Yeah, the EU has a reputation for coming down hard on big tech, but more often than not, there is a good reason.
Apps like Temu and Shein, which have blown up with younger audiences, need tighter oversight – not just to ensure the products they sell are safe, but also to prevent user data from being exploited.
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