Temu will get extra questions from the EU about unlawful product dangers | TechCrunch

The European Union has dialed up scrutiny of Chinese language ecommerce market Temu, asking for extra details about its compliance with a number of provisions of the bloc’s on-line governance framework, the Digital Providers Act (DSA), together with in relation to the way it prevents the sale of unlawful items on its platform.

Again in Could scores of client safety teams filed coordinated complaints in opposition to Temu, placing strain on the European Fee to probe a raft of issues, together with in areas like dealer traceability and manipulative design.

The DSA places a authorized requirement on bigger platforms to evaluate quite a lot of systemic dangers their providers would possibly pose to EU customers, in areas similar to minor safety and public well being, and to take proactive steps to mitigate potential harms.

Moreover, the regulation applies transparency necessities that demand that platforms present particulars of the logic of algorithmic techniques which might be used to suggest content material to customers.

Penalties for non-compliance with the DSA might be stiff, reaching as much as 6% of worldwide annual turnover.

In a press release put out on Friday, the Fee mentioned it’s requested Temu for additional data about danger mitigations across the sale of unlawful merchandise. It’s additionally after specifics (“detailed data and inner paperwork”) on how the platform identifies merchants who’re promoting unlawful stuff, and on mitigation measures it makes use of to make sure that drawback sellers can’t simply discover their means again and resume promoting unlawful wares.

Moreover, the EU is quizzing Temu on its method to client safety dangers, public well being dangers, and dangers to customers’ wellbeing. And the bloc needs extra details about Temu’s recommender techniques, in addition to its method to the safety of consumer information.

The ecommerce platform has been given till October 21 to supply the requested data.

If the EU is sad with Temu’s responses it might come again with much more information requests. Or else it might transfer to open a proper investigation continuing if it suspects the ecommerce platform of non-compliance.

An earlier Fee request for data (RFI) again in June — which was despatched to each Temu and one other ultra-low-cost ecommerce platform, Shein — comprised a equally expansive grab-bag of asks. Then the EU sought data on their “Discover and Motion” mechanisms (i.e. how they let customers report issues/unlawful merchandise); interface design; the safety of minors; the transparency of recommender techniques; dealer traceability; and “compliance by design.”

The Fee’s scrutiny has but to show into a proper investigation of both ecommerce platform. Nevertheless, in Temu’s case, it’s solely been topic to centralized oversight by the Fee since Could, when it was designated as a so-called very giant on-line platform (VLOP).

The designation gave Temu till the top of September to align with the DSA’s additional layer of danger mitigation and algorithmic accountability guidelines for bigger platforms. So the EU appears to be shifting quick, possible in response to public strain from client safety teams elevating issues and demanding motion.

In a press release on Friday, the European Client Organisation (aka BEUC) welcomed the event.

“It’s excellent news that the Fee has urgently requested extra data from Temu to find out whether or not it complies with a number of obligations beneath the DSA. It is a follow-up to our complaints from Could the place we raised many problematic points on Temu, together with poor transparency about who sellers on the platform are and the dearth of transparency on how its recommender techniques work,” wrote the BEUC’s digital coverage officer, Fernando Hortal Foronda.

“We consider Temu is failing customers and is more likely to be breaking the regulation. Varied member assessments carried out over the previous 12 months about harmful and unlawful merchandise level to a systemic drawback that Temu is presently failing to deal with correctly. We anticipate pressing modifications from Temu now and hope that is the start of the top of customers being uncovered to dangerous practices on Temu.”

Temu has been contacted for a response to the newest Fee RFI.