European Commission to launch investigation into Temu, Bloomberg reports

LONDON (Reuters) – The European Commission is set to launch an investigation into Chinese online retail platform Temu over whether it is in breach of rules meant to prevent the sale of illegal products online, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources.

The report follows the Commission’s Oct. 11 request for information from Temu under the Digital Services Act, asking what steps it is taking to stop illegal products being sold on its platform.

Temu, a unit of PDD Holdings, had to provide the information by Oct. 21. The Commission at the time said it would “determine the next steps” after assessing Temu’s responses.

Under the European Union’s Digital Services Act, companies with more than 45 million users are designated “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) and are required to do more to fight illegal content as well as counterfeit products on their platforms.

The Commission designated Temu a VLOP in May.

The European Commission declined to comment on the Bloomberg report. A Temu spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for comment.