Parents bought baby toys from Temu. They bought chargers for their electronics. They thought they were getting a bargain.
They were wrong.
Temu has been hit with a 200 million euro ($232 million) fine after a European Union investigation found the Chinese online retailer failed to protect consumers from illegal products — including toxic or hazardous toys and unsafe electronics.
The fine follows preliminary findings last year that Temu was exposing consumers to a high risk of products sold on its platform, such as baby toys and small electronics that did not comply with EU consumer safety rules.
What the Investigation Found
The European Commission said Temu failed to identify, analyze, and assess the systemic risks of illegal goods for sale on the platform and the resulting harm to European consumers. Investigators carried out a “mystery shopping exercise” that turned up a number of “non-compliant” products.
The findings are alarming.
Many electronic device chargers failed basic safety tests. A very high percentage of baby toys posed safety risks — either because they contained chemicals at levels that exceeded safety limits, or because they had parts that could come off and become a suffocation risk for young children.
Temu, which has 92 million users in the EU, is popular because it offers cheap goods shipped from sellers in China. But cheap is not safe. And the EU has now made that clear.
The Legal Hammer
The fine was issued under the Digital Services Act, a wide-ranging rulebook that requires online platforms to do more to keep internet users safe from harmful content or dodgy goods, under the threat of hefty fines. This is only the second time Brussels has issued a fine under the three-year-old DSA. The first was a $120 million penalty last year for Elon Musk’s social media site X.
The commission said failing to do proper risk assessments is a particularly serious breach of the bloc’s digital rules. Risk assessments are “not box-ticking exercises,” said European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkunnen.
“Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive,” she said. “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.”
Temu’s Response
Temu said it disagreed with the decision and considered the fine “disproportionate.” The company claimed the decision relates to the commission’s first DSA evaluation of Temu in 2024 “and does not reflect the current state of our systems.”
“Temu engaged constructively with the commission throughout the process and has since taken further steps to strengthen risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection,” the company said in a statement.
But the fine is already levied. The damage is already documented. And Temu has until the end of August to submit an “action plan” to remedy the problem. It could be hit with additional daily, weekly, or monthly fines if it fails to comply.
The Bottom Line
Temu has been fined $232 million by the European Union for failing to protect consumers from illegal products, including toxic baby toys and unsafe electronics. Investigators found chargers that failed basic safety tests and baby toys with dangerous chemicals and choking hazards. The fine was issued under the Digital Services Act, only the second time the law has been used since its enactment. Temu called the fine “disproportionate” but has until August to submit a compliance plan.
For parents who trusted Temu to sell safe products for their children, the fine is cold comfort. The question now is whether Temu will actually change — or whether more fines will follow.
