EU Fines Temu €200 Million Over Unsafe Products on Platform
The European Commission has imposed a €200 million ($232 million) fine on Chinese e-commerce platform Temu for failing to prevent the sale of illegal and unsafe products on its marketplace, marking the largest penalty ever levied under the European Union’s Digital Services Act (DSA).
The fine, announced on May 28, 2026, follows a 19-month investigation that included a mystery shopping exercise revealing widespread availability of hazardous items on the platform. According to Euronews, investigators found that a high percentage of chargers purchased through Temu failed basic electrical safety tests, while a significant proportion of baby toys posed medium-to-high safety risks, containing chemicals above legal limits or featuring small detachable parts presenting suffocation hazards.
The Digital Services Act and the Investigation
The DSA, which came into full effect for Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) in February 2024, requires platforms to conduct rigorous risk assessments of systemic risks, implement mitigation measures, and provide transparency on algorithms and advertising. Temu was designated as a VLOP due to its 130 million users in the EU — nearly one-third of the bloc’s population.
The Guardian reported that a senior EU official described the breach as “particularly serious,” noting that the commission found Temu’s 2024 risk assessment to be fundamentally inadequate. The commission also criticized Temu for failing to assess how its recommender algorithms and influencer promotion programs amplified the spread of illegal products.
Henna Virkkunen, European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, delivered a sharp rebuke. “Risk assessments are not box-ticking exercises — they are the backbone of the DSA,” Virkkunen said. “Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive. It leaves regulators, users, and the public in the dark about the true scale of potential harm posed by illegal products sold on Temu.”
Temu’s Response and Defense
Temu, owned by PDD Holdings (which also operates Pinduoduo and reported $54 billion in global revenues in 2024), contested the penalty. A company spokesperson told RTÉ that while Temu respects the objectives of the DSA, it disagrees with the commission’s decision and considers the fine disproportionate.
“The decision relates to our first DSA assessment in 2024 and does not reflect the current state of our systems,” the spokesperson said. “Temu engaged constructively with the commission throughout the process and has since taken further steps to strengthen risk assessment, platform governance, and user protection.”
The company is reviewing its options, which may include an appeal in EU courts.
Broader Regulatory Context
The €200 million fine surpasses the previous record DSA penalty of €120 million imposed on X (formerly Twitter) in December 2025 for deceptive verification badges and lack of advertising transparency. Under DSA rules, companies can be fined up to 6% of their global annual turnover, meaning Temu could face even larger penalties if the commission’s other ongoing investigations yield additional findings.
Those investigations cover the sale of illegal products, addictive platform design, and whether independent researchers have been granted adequate access to Temu’s data. The fine also comes amid broader EU scrutiny of Chinese e-commerce platforms, including discussions about imposing a €2 tax on small parcels and potential restrictions on Chinese imports.
Consumer Safety Concerns
Consumer groups across Europe have documented a pattern of dangerous products on Temu, including baby toys with choking hazards, dummy chains long enough to strangle children, jewelry containing lead, clothing made with banned chemicals, and chargers posing risks of burns, electric shocks, or fire. The Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) conducted an investigation in early 2024 that found none of 19 toys purchased from Temu complied with EU safety regulations, with 18 posing significant risks.
What Happens Next
Temu has until August 28, 2026, to submit an action plan to the commission outlining how it intends to remedy its risk-assessment failures. The European Board for Digital Services will have one month to review the plan, after which the commission will adopt a final decision on the implementation timeline. Failure to comply could result in additional periodic penalty payments.
Barry Andrews, Fianna Fáil MEP for Dublin, welcomed the fine, telling RTÉ’s Drivetime: “This is the Digital Services Act finally baring its teeth. These online platforms just don’t carry out sufficient risk assessment in my opinion and this is borne out by the judgment of the European Union on this case.”
The fine represents a landmark moment in EU digital regulation, signaling that Brussels is prepared to wield its enforcement powers aggressively against non-European platforms that fail to meet the bloc’s consumer safety and transparency standards.