Should you shop Temu this holiday season?

This holiday season, Temu will undoubtedly continue to compete for a share of your holiday spending. Defined by cheap products and nearly unbelievable discounts, the Chinese shopping site will certainly appear near the top of your search results throughout the 2024 holiday shopping season with irresistible bargains.

We've been keeping an eye on Temu for a while. In a short time, Temu has captured a vocal and enthusiastic fan base, however, the site has also garnered some unwanted attention for a number of concerns ranging from product legitimacy to worker's rights. Though intense scrutiny from the US government may allay the fears of some users, many IT professionals remain concerned about the possibility of data mining due to the number of permissions requested by the app - not to mention its corporate connection to a known data-privacy violator. 

Temu is clearly aware of its reputation. You'll notice a prominent banner just below the header on the website, featuring a nice security icon alongside the text "Temu's Committments." Clicking the banner takes shoppers to a page that tries to answer questions like “How is Temu able to offer lower prices than others?”

Their simple answer: Temu connects customers directly with cost-efficient producers, allowing for competitively priced goods.

What this page fails to note is that even the Chinese communist party (hardly the world's leader in human rights) has stated that "Temu does not have any system to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA). This all but guarantees that shipments from Temu containing products made with forced labor are entering the United States on a regular basis, in violation of the UFLPA." Yikes.

So at a minimum, if you value human rights or even moderately ethically-sourced goods, Temu is not for you.

But is it safe to shop on Temu?

That's the billion-dollar question, right? While yes, Temu is technically a legitimate website, Temu and its sister companies have been accused of a wide variety of security and ethics violations, including data mining, unsafe apps, fake goods, false advertising. Their internal policies are loosely applied at best, resulting in a lot of intellectual property violations and cheap knock-offs.

Temu's sister company Pinduoduo was suspended in the Google app store in 2023 due to the presence of malware which was stealing data and monitoring digital activity from US android users. While Temu's app has not been proven to contain malware, there is an active lawsuit by the Arkansas attorney general which purports that yes, Temu is in fact spying on you via the app.

Tips for Safe Shopping on Temu

If you can't resist a good deal and feel you MUST try Temu this holiday season (our security experts still recommend you don't), here's our best advice:

1. Do not download the Temu App. Most of the privacy concerns surrounding Temu’s partner companies are related to apps. Even if the app is currently available in the App Store and Play Store, we recommend sticking to the main website.

2. Do not reuse an important password for your Temu login. Temu is undoubtedly already a target for hackers, simply due to its number of users. Couple that fact with Temu’s doubtful security profile, and you have a strong reason to be very careful with private information like passwords that can be stolen and used to access your other account. Better yet, NEVER reuse a password anywhere!

3. Only access Temu by navigating to it through your browser. Do not click on ads, email links, or social media posts to access Temu. Such links could easily be phishing attempts that can redirect you to an insecure or spoofed version of the site. The main Temu site is https://www.temu.com. Any other root site in your navigation bar indicates that you are on a suspicious site.

4. Maintain reasonable expectations about the quality and legitimacy of the goods you purchase on Temu. Although many happy customers may be posting about how they shopped like a billionaire on Temu and received an awesome haul at their doorstep, many others have been disappointed by what they pulled out of the orange bag.

5. Do your research. We've been reporting on the allegations behind Temu for awhile. Is Temu legit? Read our post to learn what you might be getting into if you decide to shop on Temu this holiday season.