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

I think this is the key. Just buy less overall which is what I'm trying to do. I do buy clothes from Shein. I have three dress I bought 4 years ago that are still immaculate today. I don't need to buy from Shain because its cheap, it's because they do a decent plus size range. Hopefully my three dresses will last many years. I am realising I don't need to follow fashion or trends and tbh fashion trends lasted longer when I was a teen. Now things are in and out fashion in a season. Unless your a quickly growing teen no one needs to be in this sessions trend.

The same that no one need a tool or gadget for a single task. Once you die all your belongings will end up mostly in houseclearsnce then landfill. Every synthetic object ever made will be landfill one day. Unless its never made or purchased. I have a environmental biology degree but I'm no saint. To get my shein dress there was no other dresses purchased that year. So it doing what you can. I'm not bulking out my wardrobe with cheap shit, I'm not having any kind of churn on my clothes. Buy it, wear it to death. Don't buy pointless one task plastic shit.

However Temu is data mining from what I can see and that's totally separate. Even if you love seeing rivers running black with dye, happy that a child will work for tp a hour at 6 years old as 5p buys the days food and avoids that child turning to prostitution. Ie you give no shits. Why not care about your own data?

Sites like this will always exist also love the complaints about slaves from China when I assume you own a smartphone? Apple locked a bunch of people in a factory fire and killed them all but people still buy iPhones

However Temu is data mining from what I can see and that's totally separate

I can't work out how to quote just this bit. I wondered how much more mining these apps do compared to ones like mumsnet/amazon does anyone know? I have the amazon app and ebay apps and am considering removing and whether that prevents issues or is it too late? I don't have any other shopping apps but do have phones and banking apps on here as well as Facebook which I couldn't remove!

Do you have a smartphone? And why? Why didn't you choose to boycott?

Actually it's more likely that the etsy seller was a re seller for somewhere like temu

Correct.
There's a prevailing assumption that 'Chinese crap' is uniformly crap. It isn't - a lot of it is well made, by the same factories that make products for major UK/EU brands. That does speak to the enormous markups charged by resellers, whether on Etsy or at your preferred emporium.

The point is that most of it's made immorally - by forced labour imprisoned for being the 'wrong race' or being religious, by children who should be in school, by young parents who have to submit to inhuman conditions or starve, and in dangerous workplaces with no recourse to the law. They're made with little care for the environment, pumping huge quantities of poison into the air, land and water.

Admittedly, these things were all true of our own industries while we were building our economies. We don't do that any more.

So you could take the view that you're supporting a growing economy by buying the stuff they make at great human cost. Or you could ask yourself why you support far-away industrialists growing their wealth on the backs of slaves? Would it be better to support more local businesses, which charge more due to the inbuilt costs of harm reduction?

see these - they are all the same ring

ETSY £10.88 (Original Price:£18.13 (40% Off))
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1171151404/tiny-daisy-adjustable-ringflower?gpla=1&gao=1&
Tiny Daisy Adjustable Ring,Flower Ring,Modern Minimal Ring,Dainty Delicate Ring ,two Tone Flower Infinity Band,valentine's day gift|for her

ETSY £11.95 (Original Price:£14.94 (20% Off))

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1224224928/s925-sterling-silver-small-daisy-ring?external=1&rec_type=ad&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-3&pro=1&frs=1&plkey=9568886e8e3834dfb7c973bf1b47f030a4439964%3A1224224928
S925 Sterling Silver Small Daisy Ring with Adjustable Flower Opening, Minimalist, Gift for Her

ETSY £11.89 (Original Price:£14.86 (20% Off))
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1498692022/s925-sterling-silver-daisy-ring?click_key=127f658d55c2a06c79e2cfa0d1ec49fcd68e9bfe%3A1498692022&click_sum=fcf55c94&external=1&rec_type=cs&ref=landingpage_similar_listing_top-6&pro=1&frs=1&sts=1
S925 Sterling Silver Daisy Ring - Adjustable Flower Ring - Minimalist Summer Ring - Gift for Her - Dainty Daisy Ring - Floral Jewellery

ETSY £14.99
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1020735800/sterling-silver-multi-daisies-flower?gpla=1&gao=1&
Sterling Silver Multi Daisies Flower Ring, One Size Ring, Adjustable Ring

AMAZON £4.99
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Qhome-Daisy-Flower-Sterling-Silver/dp/B091FPT64M/ref=asc_df_B091FPT64M/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=527894534552&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8493534628800336666&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045161&hvtargid=pla-1364293346801&psc=1

Qhome S925 Daisy Flower Ring, Sterling Silver Daisy Flower Ring - Adjustable Open Ring, Women Sweet Cute Daisy Flower Finger Ring Jewelry Gifts for Wedding/Engagement/Party/Birthday

TEMU £1.07
https://www.temu.com/uk/simple-style-daisy-flower-ring-for-women-promise-romantic-engagement-ring-g-601099516324750.html?top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2FFancyalgo%2FVirtualModelMatting%2F493835bf4e086efce38a2d47f0c3241f.jpg&spec_gallery_id=21821916&refer_page_sn=10009&refer_source=0&freesia_scene=2&_oak_freesia_scene=2&_oak_rec_ext_1=MTA3&search_key=silver%20daisy%20ring&refer_page_el_sn=200049&_x_sessn_id=hooxtul85t&refer_page_name=search_result&refer_page_id=10009_1693066180965_m6v2pkf12

TEMU £0.87
https://www.temu.com/uk/little-daisy-flower-design-ring-cute-adjustable-opening-ring-for-women-and-girls-g-601099521927835.html?top_gallery_url=https%3A%2F%2Fimg.kwcdn.com%2Fproduct%2FFancyalgo%2FVirtualModelMatting%2F4c9908b171e7ed7c8070230cf017c128.jpg&spec_gallery_id=4018756948&refer_page_sn=10009&refer_source=0&freesia_scene=2&_oak_freesia_scene=2&_oak_rec_ext_1=ODc&search_key=silver%20daisy%20ring&refer_page_el_sn=200049&_x_sessn_id=hooxtul85t&refer_page_name=search_result&refer_page_id=10009_1693066180965_m6v2pkf12q

So a few folk making this point about the use of "communist" and McCarthy etc. Unfortunately I think if your framework for analysis here is McCarthy, rather than feeling smug about managing a historical reference, you should instead consider that your knowledge and understanding of the world might be out of date.

One reason for referring to it as Communist China is that this provides a shorthand for highlighting the role of the Chinese Communist Party (the sole ruling party of the PRC, which has 98 million members). This is relevant here for one because under Chinese law the CCP can obtain access to data gathered by Chinese companies, such as Temu and TikTok. (And that could be a genuine problem, yes.)

Though China might be operating a market economy, Communism maintains a relevance to how the system operates and to the evolution of the overall goals China has, as well as being retained in the name of the ruling party. China uses state planning and control to a high degree, from industrial strategy to the intense monitoring of ordinary citizens. China's overall goal is a nationalist rejuvenation and to reassert control over both it's geographical neighbours and global trade. It may not be exporting a communist model per se but it is exporting it's governance model to countries with which it closely engaged.

There's obviously about 5000 PhDs worth more to say about this, how it works and what it could mean for our way of life. In the past 10 years so much has happened. It's definitely time to confront that.

Must say I am intrigued by some of the stuff I've seen but then i worry about the quality and if they have been tested to uk safety standards?
Electrical items especially it's not worth the risk.

No, they won't have been tested to UK or European standards.

This was an American issue as they don't have to comply with EU data protection and its all been resolved

It's the same as buying anything that has Chinese origins. Its fine here. Its the same group as shein etc.

What do you mean by "it's the same group as Shein"? Temu and Shein are separate companies and are not affiliated. Temu is owned by Pinduoduo.

What do you mean "it's all been resolved"?

Whether a company is supposed to comply with local laws is quite a different question to whether it does and whether there is capacity for enforcement. In the context of complex code behind apps which govern data collection enforcement can be challenging.

And there are many cases of products not meeting standards despite the fact that they are supposed to, I'm sorry to say.

Shein is also not fine to anyone with morals - separate companies cut from the same cloth

There is a channel 4 documentary on Shein which is in many ways shocking yet also totally unsurprising.