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FIRST ON FOX: Kentucky’s attorney general filed a lawsuit Thursday against e-commerce giant Temu, alleging that its app illegally gives the Chinese government access to Americans’ user data and that the company lifts intellectual property from U.S.-owned companies.
In a complaint filed in Woodford County Circuit Court, state attorneys asked 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 data in a manner that was not secure, in violation of state consumer protection laws, the attorneys said.
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A laptop keyboard and Temu on App Store displayed on a phone screen. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“These privacy and security 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 government unfettered access to data 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 data 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.
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