The European Commission has launched an investigation against the e-commerce platform Temu, which is suspected of not taking sufficient measures against the sale of illegal and potentially dangerous products.

“We want to make sure that the products sold (on the Temu platform) comply with the rules of the European Union and do not put consumers at risk,” explained European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager in a statement.

No deadline has been set for the completion of the investigation. If Temu is found guilty of infringements, it could be fined up to 6% of its turnover under the new European Digital Services (DSA) legislation.

Temu has great penetration in the European market due to its ultra-low price strategy. It is the international version of the Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, created in 2015. It offers a huge selection of products at unbeatable prices: clothes, games, decoration, tools, gadgets…

Temu gathers 75 million monthly users in the European Union, surpassing the 45 million user limit that obliges platforms to fall under the EU’s enhanced regulatory framework.

The group pledged to cooperate closely with the services of the European Commission.

The Commission’s investigation begins after a series of warnings and written memos to the platform. It concerns “the systems put in place to restrict the sale of non-compliant products in the European Union” and in particular the means put in place “to prevent the reappearance of unwanted traders who have been blocked in the past.

The Commission will also look at the risks associated with the “addictive nature of the service” of online sales, including gamified reward schemes “which can have negative effects on the physical and mental health of users”.

The Commission will also examine the systems for promoting products to users and Temu’s obligation to disclose the main parameters used by these systems.

The Commission also suspects that Temu is not complying with the obligation to provide the actors of the investigation with access to the data of the platform.

The Chinese platform has been accused by consumer associations of implementing user manipulation techniques and violating several DSA rules. The European Bureau of Consumer Unions (BEUC) filed a lawsuit in May with the European Commission against Temu for using techniques such as dark patterns to induce customers to spend more money.

Temu announced on October 11 that it had taken “significant steps” since the spring and would continue to adapt its practices to the new European legislative framework.

Since February, the DSA has imposed new obligations on all digital platforms, including Temu, to better protect users against illegal content.

European legislation prohibits deceptive interfaces and imposes increased transparency rules for the algorithms used to target users. It mandates verification of the identity of sellers on online platforms and the expulsion of repeat offenders.

Temu, like the 23 other major platforms subject to the enhanced European controls, is now obliged to analyze the risks associated with its services and put in place measures to deal with them. This analysis will be reviewed every year by the European Commission, which now takes on the role of digital policeman in the European Union.

At the end of September, six European Union countries, including France and Germany, asked the Commission to tighten the reins on Temu.

“Every day, hundreds of thousands of packages arrive here, mainly from China, with goods that do not comply with the rules of the European market,” German Deputy Economy Minister Sven Giegold recently complained at a meeting of his European counterparts in Brussels.