Temu will be investigated by EU technical regulators over the sale of illegal products

Chinese online retailer Teemu will be investigated whether it breached EU technical rules against the sale of illegal products, the European Union’s tech regulators said on Tuesday, which could lead to the company paying a hefty fine.

The EU investigation will also focus on the potentially addictive design of Teemu’s service, including its game-like reward programs and its systems for recommending purchases to users.

Following complaints by the pan-European consumer organization BEUC and its 17 members, the European Commission launched its own investigation under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires very large online platforms like Teemu to tackle illegal and harmful content on their platforms. More efforts are needed. National member.

Teemu, which has 92 million users in the 27-nation EU, is a unit of Chinese ecommerce giant PDD Holdings.

The EU technology enforcer will also investigate whether Temu is complying with the DSA obligation to provide researchers access to its publicly accessible data.

“We want to ensure that Temu is complying with the Digital Services Act. In particular, in ensuring that products sold on their platform meet EU standards,” EU antitrust and technology chief Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. and do not harm consumers.”

If found guilty of violating the DSA, Teemu could face a fine of up to 6% of its global turnover.