Temu sued by Kentucky for allegedly giving China ‘unfettered’ access to user data

FIRST ON FOX Kentucky s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday against e-commerce giant Temu alleging that its app illegally gives the Chinese leadership access to Americans user input and that the company lifts intellectual property from U S -owned companies In a complaint filed in Woodford County Circuit Court state attorneys required for an injunction against Temu an Amazon rival with a China-originating parent company for what they described as multifold harms Kentucky investigators identified code-level behaviors in the Temu app that involved the collection of users' sensitive personal statistics in a manner that was not secure in violation of state consumer protection laws the attorneys reported PRESSURE FROM SHEIN TEMU ACCELERATE RETAIL CLOSURES These privacy and guard harms are compounded both because the Temu app is purposely designed to evade detection and because Defendants by their own acknowledgment have a portion of their operations located on mainland China where cybersecurity laws allow the executive unfettered access to evidence owned by Chinese businesses whenever it wishes the attorneys wrote The complaint alleged that Temu improperly collects users' Wi-Fi and GPS information as well as camera evidence without appropriate permission The attorneys also alleged that Temu brazenly sells products using stolen intellectual property of large and small brands including that of Kentucky s historic horse racetrack in Louisville As of the date of this filing Temu features dozens of what appear to be unlicensed products claiming to be from Kentucky brands like the University of Kentucky University of Louisville Buffalo Trace Distillery and Churchill Downs the complaint reads TEMU SHEIN TO RAISE PRICES FOR US CONSUMERS STARTING NEXT WEEK AS TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CLOSES TARIFF LOOPHOLETemu s parent company is PDD Holdings which originated in China but moved to Ireland Before launching Temu in the United States in PDD Holdings founded Temu s sister company Pinduoduo a Chinese online retailer Temu has become known for its heavily discounted products and aggressive advertising strategy which included three multimillion-dollar animated Super Bowl ads last year Temu was Apple's preponderance downloaded free app in according to TechCrunch Temu's tagline is Shop like a billionaire though its pricing structure has in current months been disrupted by Trump's agreement war with China Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman commented the company's cheap products and flashy marketing distract from more insidious problems Their platform can infect Kentuckians devices with malware steal their personal information and send it directly to the Chinese leadership Coleman an elected Republican and former U S attorney reported in a report At the same time they re eroding trust in selected of Kentucky s the bulk iconic brands which could lead to job losses and hardship The lawsuit is the latest instance of Temu coming under scrutiny mainly by Republicans for its ties to China a top U S adversary Last year GOP state attorneys general demanded information from Temu's ownership about claims brought by Congress that its China-based suppliers used forced labor Temu denied the claim at the time Fox News Digital reached out to Temu for comment