Temu has agreed to pay Texas $3 million and change how it handles Texas shoppers’ personal data under a settlement announced Friday by the Texas attorney general’s office.
The agreement calls for Texas consumers’ data to be stored on U.S. servers owned and controlled by an American company. Access from China would be restricted, with exceptions for specified business purposes and consumer consent.
Texas sued Temu operator Whaleco and parent PDD Holdings in February, alleging deceptive practices involving data collection and other aspects of the shopping platform. The companies deny wrongdoing, and there is no admission of liability in the settlement.
Under the proposed agreed judgment, access to nonsensitive data is allowed when reasonably necessary and proportionate to filling orders, preventing fraud, maintaining the platform or meeting U.S. legal requirements. Some access from China could still continue under those exceptions.
Outside firms would run annual checks for malware, spyware and unauthorized data collection, and audit how sensitive data is protected. Certain material failures in final annual audits would carry $8 million penalties per failed audit and would have to be fixed within 60 days.
The agreement also calls for annual product testing. Products found through that process to exceed applicable federal safety limits would have to be removed. Temu would have to terminate the seller’s stores, notify affected Texas buyers and refund them.
The public copy posted by the attorney general’s office leaves the judge’s signature and signing date blank. Virginia Times has not verified court entry of the judgment, whose effective date depends on the judge’s signature.
