Chinese Shopping App Temu A “Malware” — U.S. Attorney General

U.S. Attorney General, Tim Griffin, called Chinese shopping app Temu, a “dangerous malware” in a lawsuit he filed on Tuesday.

Griffin accused the app of bypassing privacy settings put in place by people and secretly gaining “unrestricted access” to their private data.

“It is a data-theft business that sells goods online as a means to an end,” Griffin said in the lawsuit.

“Temu is purposefully designed to gain unrestricted access to a user’s phone operating system, including, but not limited to, a user’s camera, specific location, contacts, text messages, documents, and other applications.”

Everyone knows that China’s products are cheaper due to the lesser cost of production. Most of China’s exports are cheaper than their European and American versions, and this has caused significant drops in the purchase of some Western goods in the past.

Temu shopping app was a big menace to Western manufacturers when it emerged as the no. 1 Chinese e-commerce app. However, the present set of accusations against the company has customers shivering.

One of the things Griffin claimed was that the app’s purpose “isn’t to be the world’s biggest shopping platform but to steal data and sell it, because the group’s business model is unsustainable and doomed for failure.”

WHAT IS THE CHINESE SHOPPING APP TEMU?

Temu is a shopping app belonging to Chinese e-commerce company, PDD Holdings. The platform markets a vast range of Chinese products to the world at a low price. Furthermore, it was the most downloaded software on both Google Play and Appstore in 2019 and gained resounding fame just about four months after its publication.

RELATED

• North Korea Targeting MacOS Users with Upgraded BeaverTail Malware
• Telegram Bots Share Dreadful SMS Stealer Malware
• Konga vs Jumia In-Depth Comparison & Review – Where Should You Do You

MORE CONTENTS

• 20 Fantasy & Comedy Movies Like “13 Going on 30”
• 45 Must-See Movies like White Chicks for Crime-Comedy Lovers

HOW TEMU GAINED ITS FAME

Makers of the Chinese shopping app, Temu, started offering credits to people who publicized the app and attracted signups. This was apart from selling products for less than might be bought elsewhere. News of this spread all over the internet and attracted more people to the app.

DOES TEMU SELL FAKE PRODUCTS?

Temu has never been accused of bringing customers fake products. Testimonies from buyers only showed surprise at how much they got back for little. Nevertheless, some products Temu’s customers received were low-quality.

FORMER HIGH-PROFILE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST TEMU

Temu was removed by Apple and Google in 2023 due to the company’s bad activities, according to U.S. Attorney General Griffin.

If Chinese shopping app Temu is found guilty of being a “dangerous malware” because of U.S. Attorney-General Griffin’s lawsuit, PDD Holdings might pay $10,000 for each violation. This penalty will be to satisfy the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.