EC Fines Temu €200 Million for Breaching DSA

The European Commission issued a fine of €200 million to Temu under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The company failed to diligently identify, analyze, and assess the systemic risks of illegal products being offered on its platform and the resulting harm to consumers in the European Union.

The evidence at the disposal of the EC indicates that consumers in the EU are very likely to encounter illegal items on Temu, the EC said. Temu's risk assessment of 2024 falls short of the standards laid out in the DSA. It is based on general information about risks concerning the eCommerce sector as a whole, rather than on specific evidence about Temu's own service, including public reports and testing. It also underestimated how often EU consumers are likely to encounter illegal items.

Evidence from a mystery shopping exercise included in the investigation shows that a very high percentage of the selected chargers failed basic safety tests, while a high percentage of tested baby toys posed safety risks of medium to high severity, as they contain chemicals exceeding legal safety limits or pose suffocation hazards due to detachable parts. The EC said Temu also did not properly assess how the design of its service - including recommender systems and product promotion programmes by affiliated influencers - could amplify dissemination risks of illegal products.

Under the DSA, designated Very Large Online Platforms are required to diligently assess systemic risks linked to their services and adopt corresponding mitigation measures. The fine was calculated taking into account the nature of the infringement, its gravity in terms of affected EU users, and its duration. Failing to conduct proper risk assessments – one of the cornerstones of the DSA's architecture - is a particularly serious infringement of the DSA. 

Temu has until 28 August 2026 to submit an action plan to the EC. The plan must set out measures to remedy the breach of its risk-assessment obligations. The European Board for Digital Services will have one month from receipt of the plan to issue its opinion. The EC will then have a further month to adopt its final decision and set a reasonable period for implementation. Failure to comply with the non-compliance decision may lead to periodic penalty payments.