Temu has deemed the 200-million-euro fine imposed today by the European Commission “disproportionate,” after the platform failed to properly detect illegal products with high safety risks listed for sale.
“We do not agree with the European Commission’s decision and consider the fine to be disproportionate,” a company spokesperson told the EFE news agency, adding that Temu, which can appeal the sanction in European courts, will evaluate “all available options” at its disposal.
The European Commission fined the Chinese company today for failing to adequately detect illegal goods, noting that it found baby toys, jewelry, and chargers with high safety risks available for purchase.
The European Commission accuses Temu of failing to “properly identify, analyze, and assess the systemic risks associated with the sale of illegal products on its platform and the resulting harm to consumers in the European Union (EU)” in its 2024 risk assessment.
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“Temu has cooperated constructively with the Commission throughout the entire process and has since taken additional measures to strengthen its risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection,” the company replied in turn.
Based on evidence gathered during the investigation, the European Commission indicated that “it is highly likely that consumers in the EU will encounter illegal items” for sale on the Chinese platform.
Among the examples of illegal products detected, the commission noted that “a high percentage of tested baby toys presented medium to high safety risks because they contained chemical substances above legal safety limits or posed choking hazards due to detachable parts.”
Similarly, “a very high percentage of the chargers” analyzed failed “basic safety tests,” while jewelry posing safety risks was also identified.
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The EU executive stresses that Temu’s 2024 risk assessment does not comply with the standards established by the European Digital Services Act (DSA) and “is based on general information about the risks associated with the e-commerce sector” rather than being grounded in “specific evidence regarding Temu’s own service.”
This risk assessment, the executive continued, “seriously underestimated” how frequently EU consumers are likely to encounter illegal items.
The European Commission further accuses the Chinese platform of “failing to properly assess” how the design of its service, “including its recommendation systems and affiliate influencer product promotion programs, can increase the risks of disseminating illegal products.”
This is the highest fine ever imposed by the European Commission under the Digital Services Act—the second highest, totaling 120 million euros, was applied to the social network X, owned by tycoon Elon Musk, in December 2025.
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The EU executive emphasized that the amount of the fine was calculated based on the “nature of the infringement, its severity in terms of the number of affected users, and its duration.”
If it chooses not to appeal, Temu now has three months to pay the fine and must present an action plan to the European Commission by August 28 to correct the detected failures, which will then be subject to an opinion by the European Board for Digital Services.
As part of this ongoing investigation, the European Commission is also evaluating other issues, such as the platform’s “addictive design,” its recommendation systems, and the risk assessments carried out by Temu in subsequent years, and it could still apply additional fines regarding any of these matters.
