TEMU WARNING

[frozencarlotta]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65990529?fbclid=IwAR3IjNnvlU7S_izagSEZyz5Tmo-ZSR3p6NwN-cVp7JbW_Fav9vnKv3I2sTU

and this was on social media, Its a little 'facebook warning' type

Radio talk show hostess, Kim Komando, did some digging about TEMU and this is what she found!
Seemingly overnight, everyone’s talking about Temu (pronounced “tee-moo”), an online shopping app that boasts deals that seem too good to be true, like $17 wireless earbuds, $1 “gold” necklaces and $23 wedding dresses.
Over 50 million Americans have downloaded Temu since it launched state-side in September 2022, after it gained traction with expensive Super Bowl ads promising to let you “shop like a billionaire.”
Today, Temu is the most popular shopping app in the U.S. behind Amazon. But most of us don’t know much about the app’s true origins. Reader Daniel Mayer asked an important question, “Is [Temu] something we should be concerned about?”
So, I did some digging. And as it turns out, yes, you absolutely should be. Here’s what I found:
Where did Temu come from?
This isn’t some fly-by-night operation. Temu is based in Boston, Massachusetts, by PDD Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: PDD). PDD is headquartered in Shanghai, China.
PDD also owns the e-commerce platform Pinduoduo headquartered in — you guessed it — China. So, Temu is a Communist China-based app and site.

What you need to know before using Temu
First, you’re buying goods directly from manufacturers in China and other parts of the world. That’s why shipping times are often 12 days or longer. The prices are low because the goods are cheap. The pictures of what you see advertised may not be what you actually get.
Temu’s BBB rating is 2.21/5. Reviews at TrustPilot are interesting, with 38% 5-star reviews and 41% 1-star reviews.
But that’s not the worst of it.

Temu is downright dangerous.

The app is a clever, pervasive digital stalker. As you shop, Temu monitors your activity on other apps, tracks your notifications and location and changes settings.
It gets worse. Temu gains full access to all your contacts, calendars and photo albums, plus all your social media accounts, chats and texts. In other words, literally everything on your phone.
No shopping app needs this much control, especially one tied to Communist China. If you’re using Temu, delete the app from your phone ASAP.
On iPhone, Long-press an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App. Tap Delete to confirm.
On Android, touch and hold an app, then tap Remove App > Delete App > Delete.
Pro tip: If you downloaded Temu, to be safe from Chinese spies, you really need to do a full factory reset.
But wait, there’s more! Temu’s sister app was removed from Google Play because of malware.

Do not buy from this company, or use their app

Re data extraction & sharing - I registered to bid on a UK auction last night. When I went to check that it had the right payment details, I was half-impressed & half-creeped-out to find it had added a credit card I got in May this year. I haven't bid on any auctions since March.

I knew the rules about banks sharing customer data had changed recently; I vaguely recall approving a permission form that popped up in my banking app. I wondered how this change would manifest: now, I guess, I know they're selling cross-referenced account numbers to online retailers!

I'm quite surprised not to have seen more of this (yet). I'm pretty sure it's not coming from nefarious foreign apps, as I don't have any installed.

Leaving aside the communist China stuff, the very first sentence of the BBC article is:

US lawmakers are warning of an "extremely high risk" that products sold on the Chinese online shopping site Temu have been made with forced labour.

And people don't care that their cheap "bits" for Christmas or their cheap clothes are being made by slaves. All the bollocks about all retailers being the same and how there's no such thing as ethical are clearly nonsense and these people have to kid themselves.

I wont shop at Temu for the obvious reasons but its also worth pointing out that all clothes are made by hand. So anything mass-produced is going to be at the expense of a poor person.

It's very difficult to be ethical in your choices in today's world - from mobile phones to fish, there's has been someone exploited at some point down the line.

We did away with plastic straws but the need for buying cheap plastic disposable crap carries on.

There's a reason you reject all but necessary cookies on any app or site

I started blocking TEMU and all other similar companies on twitter months ago. When you block them, you get the same ads, by another company name. And another, and another and I've been blocking them for so long, when i go into 'blocked' on twitter, it is pages upon pages of four letter companies with the same cheap shite.

Amazon already spies on me. I always get emails about products I recently mentioned in real life.

Aye , if you download the app don’t consent to them tracking you across apps. It’s pretty simple. But make sure you delete your Amazon / social media / get rid of Alexa and any other listening devices etc.

and don’t fall for scaremongering.

@Maryjaneslastdance I suspect we have past the tipping point where China needs lessons in capitalism from anyone. They seem to be knocking it out the park.

I wouldn't buy from it for multiple reasons including the blatant and aggressive advertisement, also if it's too good to be true it probably is.

I thought everybody already knew this.

There's a reason its so cheap - YOU are the product.

The USA's going large on the Temu/Shein story because it's been in trade war with China for five years. The US is losing (paywall, sorry). It's true, however, that Uyghur 're-education' camps provide vast amounts of free labour to clothing manufacturers and others.

Some documentaries on the camps confirmed that trusted UK and European high street brands were sourcing clothing made by exploited Uyghurs. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute published a report in 2020 that includes Abercrombie & Fitch, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Fila, Gap, H&M, Lacoste, Nike, North Face, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Skechers, Uniqlo, Victoria’s Secret and Zara.

Over the last few years, China's got a lot more clever at low-profile exporting; this is what's giving America headaches. Instead of selling direct from factories or even agencies in China, they're selling components to the countries America is allowed to buy from. Products are assembled in the permitted country but are, to all intents & purposes, Chinese.

In a similar move, fashion products are made by Chinese forced labour and then shipped to Europe for finishing & packaging. This is why the quality of "Made in Italy" fashion has plummeted: it was actually made in Xinjiang. Same thing happens in Canada, which is a preferred partner to the US.

Note that COS, Monki, Weekday, & Other Stories and ARKET are H&M brands.

Sorry I am still laughing at the initial poster being so scared by your post they want to cancel their order

Has this been posted before? I'm sure I read this exact same OP a few weeks ago?

I accidentally downloaded the app. I was trying to download something kids related, and the website made it look like this was the download. I've deleted it, but it felt really shady.

Also the products are butt-ugly and that’s the enticing internet version, God knows what actually turns up.

Shock horror a Chinese firm does a lot more data farming than what is expected, meanwhile here is what is trending this week on TikTok!

Why tell people to delete the app, but not their account?
There are privacy settings. People should use those.

Most people know this already to be honest. I've seen many a thread on here about Temu and a lot of people don't care about China/date protection/environment/child labour as long as they get some cheap plastic crap. It falls on deaf ears.

I bought Barbie house furniture on Temu that was £4 and was £23 on Amazon.

So I know who's getting my money this Christmas.

I hope you realise that Temu and Wish etc are no worse that companies like Amazon. The main difference is you are buying direct and not importing via a third party. Amazon sellers and many other retailers buy cheap from China and sell in the UK at huge mark-ups, the price paid to the workforce in China or elsewhere in the world is no different.

More expensive clothes and other goods are no better unless they specifically state that they are sustainably made in Europe/the US etc. Wake up and stop buying too much tat in general rather than singling out these Chinese companies.

Never have and never will use Temu/shein/aliexpress etc. I think there's one thing buying fast fashion on the high Street with a naivety about where its come from, to buying on sites like those for things made by slaves, in banned/dangerous chemicals with no safety testing and not giving a shit. Personally the latter type of people are a disgrace.

This isn’t really news is it? I thought Temu being Chinese was common knowledge, and of course the products are cheap because they sell your information on how else do people think they make money 😂

They make their money by using forced (slave) labour, including child labourers.

Erm no. That's definitely not the bigger issue op

I was with you up until the point where Temu accessing your contacts is worse than terrible work practices, environmental degradation etc

Agree....

This sentiment seems to be on the rise sadly. Don't care about the consequences of this product, if I want it, I'll buy it basically