A spokesperson for Temu said they are ready to cooperate with regulators. Credits: GettyImages/Feature China

The European Commission has launched an investigation into the Chinese e-commerce platform Temu over potential breaches of the Digital Services Act (DSA).

The investigation will focus on the potential sale of illegal products and the game-like design of the website, which has reward programmes that some suggest make the platform addictive. It will also verify whether Temu is providing researchers with access to publicly accessible data, a legal requirement of the DSA. 

On October 11th, the EU requested that Temu share data on how they tackle the sale of counterfeit or dangerous products on their platform. The commission said it had requested “detailed information and internal documents on the mitigation measures taken against the presence and reappearance of traders selling illegal products” through Temu.   

The DSA’s main goal is to “prevent illegal and harmful activities online and the spread of disinformation.” The probe was launched after complaints were made by the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC). 

If the commission finds Temu in breach of the rules, they could be fined as much as 6% of their global turnover.  

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It is the latest large online marketplace to be investigated by the European Commission under the DSA. Other companies facing similar investigations include Meta, Alibaba, AliExpress, Bytedance and X Corp.  

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The EU has been stepping into its role as a global tech regulator. Another landmark regulation which aims to increase competitiveness in digital markets, the Digital Markets Act (DMA), has affected major players such as Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, ByteDance and Booking.com.  

In early October the Commission concluded that X did not meet the requirements that would have made it subject to the strict parameters set out in the DMA.  

Temu has 92 million users in the EU and is owned by Chinese retail giant PDD Holdings.