EU Fines Temu 200 Million Euros for Breaching the DSA
EU Fines Temu 200 Million Euros for Breaching the DSA
Last week, the European Commission issued a €200 million fine against Temu for breaching the DSA. The Commission argued that Temu failed to adequately assess the systemic risks posed by illegal and unsafe products sold to consumers across the EU. They also cited deficiencies in Temu’s assessment of risks associated with its recommendation systems and influence affiliate program.
When announcing the fine, European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, stated:
“Risk assessments are not box-ticking exercises; they are the backbone of the DSA. Temu’s risk assessment underestimates concrete risks, lacks specificity, is not grounded in solid evidence, and is not comprehensive.”
A Temu spokesperson commented on the fine, stating:
“Temu respects the objectives of the DSA and the need for clear, consistent rules across the digital economy. However, we disagree with the European Commission’s decision and consider the fine to be disproportionate. The decision relates to our first DSA assessment in 2024 and does not reflect the current state of our systems.”
This is the largest fine imposed under the DSA, surpassing the previous €120 million fine levied against X in December 2025 for platform transparency failures. Furthermore, this fine only closes one of four different investigation strands launched by the Commission dating back to October 2024. Other strands are looking at addictive design features, recommender system transparency, and research data access.
This fine comes as the EU is preparing to apply additional pressure on Chinese e-commerce companies as a whole. The Temu fine also comes as the EU prepares additional measures targeting Chinese e-commerce imports. This new fee will charge three euros on all parcels under €150 entering the EU from China. Additionally, the EU is also using the DSA to impose greater scrutiny on AliExpress and Shein. For AliExpress, the EU and the company reached a binding commitment with the Commission last year over similar risk management concerns to avoid a fine but remain under a monitoring trustee. For Shein, the company was designated a very large online platform in 2024 and formal proceedings were opened in February 2026 to investigate illegal product sales, recommender system transparency, and the compulsive use of addictive features.
As the EU continues to place pressure on foreign technology firms and large platforms, the DSA will likely continue to be a primary method for the Commission to place additional pressure on firms to either make substantial platform changes.