Attorneys general from 21 states are demanding answers from Chinese budget online retailer Temu, questioning whether it has done enough to protect consumers from data privacy misuse and products made with illegal forced labor.
“Temu’s business practices and apparent ties to the Chinese Communist Party are deeply concerning,” said Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen in a statement on Aug. 15. “As attorney general, it’s my job to protect Montanans from bad actors who may be coming after their sensitive consumer data and hold anyone who has violated our consumer protection laws accountable.”
Led by Knudsen, the group of attorneys general sent a letter to Qin Sun, Temu’s president, and Chen Lei, chief executive officer of Temu’s China-based parent company PDD Holdings.
The attorneys general said they were “deeply troubled” by a report published by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in June last year. According to the report, Temu told the committee that “it does not have a policy in place to prohibit the sale of goods from Xinjiang” on its platform.
“Temu conducts no audits and reports no compliance system to affirmatively examine and ensure compliance with the UFLPA,” the report reads, referring to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. UFLPA is a federal law that bans the import of all goods from China’s far-western region of Xinjiang unless companies offer verifiable proof that goods weren’t made with forced labor.
China’s communist regime has locked up over 1 million Uyghurs in internment camps in Xinjiang under the pretext of “combating extremism.” Detainees at the camps are subjected to forced labor, torture, political indoctrination, forced abortion, and other inhuman treatments. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have determined that the regime’s repressive policies in Xinjiang are a form of genocide.
In January, the research firm Marketplace Pulse estimated that more than 100,000 China-based sellers were operating on the Temu shopping platform.
Attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia co-signed the letter.
Data Security
The attorneys general also shared their concerns about the extent of user data collected by Temu.
“Montana has additional concerns about Temu’s and PDD Holding’s data collection practices. Like other companies subject to CCP control, Montana believes that Temu is obligated to collect and send Montana consumer data to the CPP on demand,” the letter reads.
“The Montana Consumer Data Privacy Act goes into effect on October 1, 2024, and given the CCP’s demonstrated history of using CCP-affiliated companies to target and track U.S. consumers, Montana remains concerned that Temu will flout Montana law.”
Aside from Temu, other Chinese-owned companies have been drawing scrutiny over consumer data security, including video-sharing app TikTok and e-commerce platform Shein, given that Chinese authorities can compel local firms to hand over data under different Chinese laws.
On Aug. 14, the Center for Internet Security published a blog post, warning that Chinese laws, including the National Intelligence Law of 2017, “authorize the CCP to harvest data from China-based commercial entities like TikTok, Temu, and Shein.”
“The [People’s Republic of China] likely views the expansion of Chinese-owned apps in the United States as an opportunity to develop new malign influence effort launch points and to harvest data across a range of industry verticals,” the post reads.
“As such, it is important to consider the background context of the CCP’s data control objectives and the PRC legislation that facilitate these efforts not only in relation to TikTok, Temu, and Shein but also for all Chinese-owned apps.”
Montana is the first U.S. state to impose a complete ban on TikTok after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed Senate Bill 419 into law in May last year.
In a statement after the ban went into effect, Knudsen urged other states to follow his state’s lead, saying that “TikTok is a Chinese Communist Party spying tool that poses a threat to every Montanan.”
In June, Arkansas filed a lawsuit against Temu, accusing the online platform of violating state privacy laws and engaging in deceptive trade practices.
Questions
The attorneys general asked Temu and PDD Holdings to respond to numerous questions and provide documents within the next 30 days.
“Various reports indicate that several former CCP members are on PDD Holdings’ executive leadership team. Do these members have access to any U.S. consumer data possessed or acquired by Temu?” one of the questions says.
Other questions relate to the types of data collected from U.S. consumers, the locations of data storage, whether CCP officials have “required or requested” that Temu or PDD Holdings turn over any U.S. data, and how Temu notifies consumers about product recalls over safety concerns.
“How does Temu warrant to consumers that products sold on its platform do not involve the use of slave labor?” another question says.
‘Protect American Citizens’
Michael Lucci, founder of U.S.-based nonprofit State Armor, applauded the state attorneys general for their efforts, encouraging “more state leaders to step up and protect American citizens from Communist China’s malevolent behavior,” according to an Aug. 15 statement.
“Temu’s too-good-to-be-true deals are made possible by supply chains built with slave labor along with deep connections with the Chinese Communist Party. In exchange for heavily discounted and cheaply made items, Temu gains full access to your phone and the ability to harvest the personal data of American consumers,” Lucci stated.
He continued, “Much like TikTok, Temu is [a] trendy app that allows the CCP to infiltrate the United States, exert control over our supply chains, gain access to Americans’ private information, and develop long-term tools of economic coercion.”
The Epoch Times contacted Temu for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
From The Epoch Times