Brussels slams Temu with €200M fine for breaching DSA

The European Commission has imposed a fine of €200 million on Temu for failing to prevent the sale of illegal or dangerous products on its platform.

Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which came into effect in August 2023, online retailers are required to identify, analyze, and assess the systemic risks of illegal products being offered on their platform.

However, Temu failed to do so, meaning that consumers in the EU have a significant chance of encountering illegal products on the retailer’s platform.

According to the European Commission, which opened formal proceedings against Temu in October 2024, Temu’s risk assessment of 2024 fell short. The executive arm of the EU argues that the Chinese company only looked at risks for the e-commerce sector as a whole, rather than its own service.

To see how often European consumers were likely to encounter illegal products, the Commission deployed mystery shoppers. The test showed that “a very high percentage” of selected chargers and baby toys failed basic safety tests.

Lastly, Temu didn’t properly assess how its recommendation systems and influencer promotions could contribute to the distribution of illegal products.

“Risk assessments are not box‐ticking exercises; they are the backbone of the DSA. Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive. It leaves regulators, users, and the public in the dark about the true scale of potential harm posed by illegal products sold on Temu. Now it is time for Temu to comply with the law,” Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said in a statement.

To determine the amount of the fine, the European Commission took into account the nature, the gravity, and the duration of the infringement. All things considered, this amounted to a fine of €200 million.

Temu has until August 28th, 2026, to submit a plan to the Commission on how to deal with these shortcomings. The European Board for Digital Services and the executive branch of the EU will then assess the proposal.

“Temu respects the objectives of the Digital Services Act and the need for clear, consistent rules across the digital economy. However, we disagree with the ​European Commission’s decision and consider the fine to be disproportionate,” Temu said in a statement to Reuters.

A company spokesperson added that Temu has taken steps to strengthen risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection since the European Commission launched its investigation.