Temu in Trouble: EU Accuses Shopping App of Selling Dangerous Products

What Temu got wrong

Here’s the problem: when EU shoppers browse Temu, they’re finding dangerous baby toys and dodgy electronics that shouldn’t be there. The Commission started digging into this back in October 2024 and didn’t like what they found.

Temu basically did their safety homework by copying from other companies instead of actually checking their own marketplace. “Temu’s risk assessment was inaccurate and relied on general industry information rather than on specific details about its own marketplace,” the Commission said.

That’s like a restaurant using someone else’s food safety plan without checking if their own kitchen is clean.

The scary stuff people found

Consumer group BEUC did some testing in January and found genuinely frightening products. We’re talking about toys made with toxic chemicals that could poison kids, parts that could strangle children, lava lamps that electrocute people, and bike helmets that don’t actually protect anyone.

Source: beuc.eu

EU Tech Commissioner Henna Virkkunen wasn’t mincing words: “Consumers’ safety online is not negotiable in the EU.”

More problems keep surfacing

The safety issues are just the start. EU investigators are also looking at whether Temu uses addictive design tricks to keep people shopping, whether their recommendation system is transparent, and if they’re blocking researchers from accessing data.

Plus there’s a separate investigation into Temu’s business practices – fake discounts, phony reviews, and turning shopping into a game to manipulate customers.

What this means for online shopping

This isn’t just about Temu. The EU is investigating Shein and AliExpress too. None of these cases are finished yet, but Temu’s preliminary findings show Brussels means business.

For any company selling stuff online in Europe, the message is clear: you can’t just copy-paste generic safety policies and hope nobody notices. You need to actually know what’s happening on your own platform.

What happens now

Temu gets to write back and defend themselves. If the EU decides they’re guilty, those massive fines kick in. A Temu spokesperson told Euronews they’ll “continue to cooperate fully” – which is probably the smartest thing they can say right now.