The European Commission has fined online marketplace Temu €200 million for breaching the EU’s Digital Services Act, saying the company failed to properly assess the risk of illegal products being sold to consumers in the bloc.
EU consumers are “very likely” to come across illegal items on Temu, based on evidence gathered during the Commission’s investigation.
The Commission said on Thursday that Temu’s 2024 risk assessment did not meet the standards required under the Digital Services Act, a law that sets rules for large online services including duties to assess and reduce risks linked to their platforms.
Temu’s assessment relied on general information about risks in online retail rather than evidence specific to Temu’s service, including public reports and product testing.
It also underestimated how often consumers in the EU might encounter illegal products, the Commission said, citing a “mystery shopping” exercise in which a “very high percentage” of selected chargers failed basic safety tests and a high percentage of tested baby toys posed safety risks of medium to high severity.
Some of the baby toys contained chemicals above legal safety limits or had detachable parts that could cause suffocation.
Temu told to submit an action plan by August 2026
Temu also failed to properly assess whether the design of its service — including recommendation systems that suggest products to users and promotion programmes involving affiliated influencers — could increase the spread of illegal products, the Commission said.
Under the Digital Services Act, “Very Large Online Platforms” must assess systemic risks linked to their services and put measures in place to reduce them.
Temu has until 28 August 2026 to submit an action plan setting out how it will address the breach of its risk-assessment obligations, with the European Board for Digital Services due to give an opinion within a month of receiving the plan.
The Commission said it could impose periodic penalty payments if Temu fails to comply with the non-compliance decision.
Formal proceedings against Temu were opened on 31 October 2024, and the Commission adopted preliminary findings in July 2025 before issuing its decision.
“Risk assessments are not box‐ticking exercises - they are the backbone of the DSA,” stated Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy.
