
The pace of rapid development of the Temu application has caused serious concern among US lawmakers and cybersecurity experts. The app quickly became popular thanks to its low prices and wide range of products, but its business model is questionable. Temu circumvents US customs laws using the de minimis rule, which allows goods worth up to $800 to be imported duty- and tax-free, causing the country to lose revenue and local companies to face unequal competition. An additional problem is the alleged violation of the law prohibiting the importation of goods made with the use of forced Uyghur labor.
Of greatest concern is the method of data collection: Temu accesses users’ devices and asks for geolocation, contact information, and even permission to use the camera’s microphone. According to analytics company Grizzly Research, the app acts as sophisticated spyware. Under China’s National Intelligence Law, the Chinese government may require Temu to share user data for its own purposes.
A similar situation has already been seen with another Chinese app, TikTok, when the US government demanded that ByteDance, the parent company, sell its stake due to threats to national security. Temu, as part of PDD Holdings, has a direct relationship with the Chinese government and People’s Data, a data collection and processing tool for the CCP. In 2023, Pinduoduo’s sister app was removed from Google Play due to suspected malware.
In addition to being a commercial platform, Temu is also a data collection platform that the Chinese government can access. The US government plans to introduce regulatory measures against Chinese apps that pose a threat to national security.