Primary Taiwanese news agency Central News Agency (CNA) recently reported that the European Commission has announced it will investigate Temu, a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo, under the EU Digital Services Act. The online shopping platform is suspected of selling illegal goods and has designs that make consumers addicted. According to Temu’s declaration, as of September, there were 92 million monthly active users in the European Union, which complies with the definition of Very Large Online Platform (VLOP), which requires more stringent regulation.
The focus of the EU investigation is, first, whether the Temu system can effectively prevent illegal commodity transactions, including preventing the products of low-quality sellers that have been suspended from being relisted. The EU also wants to investigate whether Temu’s design to make users addictive, such as providing rewards in a game-like manner, and whether its system includes risk prevention measures to avoid the negative impact of addiction on users’ physical and mental health.
Temu’s cheap dumping strategy and inferior product quality have caused much controversy internationally. In addition to EU, the governments of the United States, South Korea, and Thailand have also announced that they will launch investigations.
Source: CNA, October 31, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/aopl/202410310305.aspx