European consumer organisations want to “tame Temu”

European consumer organisation BEUC and seventeen national consumer organisations have filed complaints against Chinese marketplace Temu, accusing it of withholding information and using manipulation techniques.

Lack of transparency

The rapidly growing popularity of Temu, a subsidiary of Chinese group Pinduoduo, worries European consumer organisations. The app, which already serves more than 75 million monthly users in the European Union, violates the rules of the Digital Services Act, or so the BEUC – the umbrella organisation defending European consumer interests – claims.

The organisation has therefore filed a complaint with the European Commission. At the same time, seventeen of its national member organisations are filing a complaint in their own countries. “Taming Temu” is the title of the press release in which the umbrella organisation points out a lack of transparency at the Chinese marketplace.

Manipulative techniques

According to the organisations, Temu does not provide enough information about the merchants selling on its platform, and therefore cannot guarantee that the products comply with EU law. Moreover, they claim the app is guilty of so-called “dark patterns” or manipulative techniques to get consumers to spend more than they originally intended. “For example, those who click on a product are not only presented with that one product, but also a number of other more expensive ones. And deleting your account also turns out to be a lot harder than creating an account”, said Test-Achats spokeswoman Laura Clays said.

Consumer organisations also criticise the company for not providing enough information about the algorithms that determine which products is suggested to consumers. There have also been longstanding concerns about the safety of products sold on Temu, and the sale of counterfeit products. The complaint will appear before a judge in Ireland, where the marketplace has its European headquarters.