Temu accepts EU controls after €200m fine over unsafe products

Temu has agreed to strengthen risk assessments, moderation and product recommendations after Brussels found it had failed to protect consumers from potentially dangerous or illegal goods.

The European Commission has accepted Temu’s plan to tighten controls over products sold on its marketplace, following a €200 million fine imposed on the Chinese e-commerce group for failures under the Digital Services Act. The move marks a further phase in Brussels’ scrutiny of the platform, which regulators say did not adequately assess the risks posed to consumers by unsafe or illegal goods.

According to the Commission’s findings, the case was driven by concerns over items such as electrical chargers and baby toys, which investigators said raised safety issues for EU consumers. Euronews reported in May that some chargers failed basic safety checks, while baby products were found to contain hazards including excessive chemicals and small detachable parts that could create a choking risk.

Temu’s corrective plan sets out five commitments designed to address the weaknesses identified by regulators. The company has said it will carry out a platform-specific risk assessment, use more reliable indicators to measure whether its countermeasures are working, and examine the limits of its moderation systems. It also intends to study how its recommendation tools may give greater visibility to products that do not comply with EU rules.

The plan further requires Temu to investigate whether sellers have manipulated the platform’s features to promote potentially illegal items. The aim is to reduce the likelihood that consumers encounter unsafe products through search results, advertising or recommendation feeds. The fine itself remains in force, and Agence Europe reported that the penalty is due to be paid within three months, leaving the company still under financial and regulatory pressure.