The European Union (EU) imposed a penalty surcharge of 200 million euros (about 348.8 billion won) on Chinese e-commerce corporations Temu. It said the company failed to properly manage the risk of selling illegal products that do not meet safety standards.
According to AFP and Reuters on the 28th local time, the European Commission said, "Temu failed to sufficiently identify, analyze and assess the structural risks of illegal products sold on its platform and the resulting harm to EU consumers. This violates the risk assessment obligation under the Digital Services Act (DSA)," and made this decision.
The DSA, introduced by the EU in 2024, requires large online platforms and open markets to assess structural risks that may arise in their services and to put in place measures to reduce them. The EU can impose a penalty surcharge of up to 6% of annual global revenue on very large platforms that violate the DSA.
Temu is the second case in which the EU has actually imposed a penalty surcharge on online corporations under the DSA. The first case is the well-known social media SNS X (formerly Twitter), a social media SNS platform of Elon Musk. Earlier, in Dec. 2025, the EU imposed a penalty surcharge of 120 million euros (about 200 billion won) on the grounds that X's account verification badge and advertising policies violated transparency.
According to the European Commission's investigation, many of the products Temu sells fell short of safety standards. The problematic products included infant toys such as rattles in which chemical substances exceeding safety standards were detected, chargers that failed basic safety tests, and accessories.
Henna Virkkunen, commissioner for technology sovereignty, security and democracy, said, "Temu's risk assessment underestimates fact-based risks, lacks specificity and substantiation, and is also insufficiently comprehensive," noting, "This prevents regulators, users and the public from properly grasping the extent of potential risks from illegal products sold on Temu."
Accordingly, Temu must submit an action plan by Aug. 28 to correct the "violations" identified by the EU. If it refuses, periodic penalty payments may also be imposed.
Temu is pushing back against the EU's decision. According to Reuters, Temu called the penalty surcharge "disproportionate," saying, "This decision targets the initial risk assessment in 2024." It added, "We have since improved our compliance procedures," and "We will continue to consult with EU authorities."
In addition, the EU is also conducting investigations into other suspected violations, including Temu's addictive design and platform transparency issues related to its game-style rewards program, and Temu's design features.