Its the shopping website known for selling incredibly cheap goods, but from forced labour accusations to claims of third-degree burns, could Temu be too good to be true?
Retailer Temu’s popularity rivals that of Amazon and Shein in the UK, but the Chinese shopping app is also shrouded in controversy.
Temu is currently causing a stir by offering ‘free cash’ for new sign-ups, with hundreds of people flooding the internet with screenshots of £50 being paid into their PayPal accounts. The promotion, which is perfectly legal, offers a combination of cash and store credit to new members, but cyber security experts have warned it could lead to people’s information being sold to advertisers.
“This app is effectively offering money – not for free – but it’s offering money in exchange for personal data and device data,” Jake Moore, Global Cyber Security Advisor at ESET, told the Daily Mail. “Data is the new currency and it has been for a little while now. In extreme cases, it can even be used for identity fraud because if that data is compromised, it can be very dangerous for those people that have given their data away.”
And this isn’t the first time Temu has come under fire for its practices. The retailer’s prices are often a third of the likes of Amazon, with 15 million people in the UK alone downloading the app.
Tempting items currently on sale include a kids dinosaur backpack for £1.29 and a pair of women’s walking shoes for £7.78. But a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary tonight has uncovered dangerous levels of toxic materials in products including children’s clothing.
Last year, the parents of Chloe Norris, 11, claimed she had suffered third-degree burns and needed skin grafts after using glue bought from Temu to do her fake nails. The shopping app launched an investigation and offered the Kent schoolgirl £1,500 in credit as a goodwill gesture.
Dispatches programme makers found items including a child’s leather jacket which cost just £11.09 and contained ‘absolutely unacceptable high loads’ of antimony, a semi-metal linked to breathing problems and lung, heart and stomach issues. Temu in response said: “Our tests did confirm some items exceeded acceptable limits for heavy metals. These items have been permanently removed and we are working with the merchants involved.”
Last year, US lawmakers warned that ‘extremely high risk’ products sold on the shopping site were made with forced Uyghur labour, referring to the oppressed ethnic group in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. The retailer, which has more than 80,000 suppliers, said it was not responsible for third-party sellers using its platform.
“Temu does not have any system to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA),” said the House Select Committee on the Chinese Community Party. “This all but guarantees that shipments from Temu containing products made with forced labour are entering the United States on a regular basis.”
Dispatches will also reveal the apparent tricks that could lead to addiction to the shopping app, with flash sales, prize wheels and games found to give shopper’s highs of pleasure. “I think the Temu system is based on gambling technology,” said Conservative politician Iain Duncan Smith, who believes shopping apps should investigated to see if stronger regulation is needed. “So instead of gambling on the outcome of something, they’re actually gambling in the way to get cheaper product.”
In response, Temu said the app’s games were inspired by ‘activities at funfairs and shopping malls’.
Watch The Truth About Temu: Dispatches tonight on Channel 4 at 8pm
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