Congressman Young Kim (R-Calif.) is reacting to a new report alleging that U.S. investment firms are supporting the Chinese military and enabling human rights abuses.
Fast-fashion retailer Tem’s Super Bowl ad drew ire from members of Congress over the China-based company’s ties to products made using forced labor in Xinjiang and its data-sharing policies. .
Temu works with e-commerce company Pinduoduo through their common parent company PDD Holdings, and offers viewers the opportunity to download the company’s app and “shop like a millionaire” to earn $10 million on the site. We ran several advertisements encouraging people to win prizes.
Temu’s Super Bowl ads cost about $7 million each (which was the going rate for a 30-second ad during this year’s big game), and this year the company is trying to take market share from companies like It was part of a $3 billion marketing effort. Amazon. The company also ran Super Bowl ads last year in an effort to gain market share among U.S. consumers.
House committee releases ‘shocking’ findings in report on Chinese operations in the US
A mobile phone displaying Temu APP interface in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China, October 28, 2022. Temu, Pinduoduo’s cross-border e-commerce platform, launched in the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Canada, and other overseas countries in March (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Lawmakers took to social media to criticize Temu’s data practices and links to forced labor in China, and tried to advise U.S. consumers not to download the app.
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P.D.D. | PDD Holdings Co., Ltd. | 131.57 | +4.09 | +3.21% |
“Just like TikTok, Temu and other Chinese tech companies have given the Communist Party unfettered access to their data,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “We have to make sure that we can do that. This should not be a starting point for China.” We do business in the United States. ”
“Sunday is the Super Bowl! While you’re watching this game, pay attention,” said Rep. Michelle Steele (R-Calif.), a member of the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Communist Party of China. I wrote. “We are seeking advertising for Tem, a company that profits from the slave labor of the Chinese Communist Party. This company should not be allowed to profit from manipulating American consumers.”
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Chinese e-commerce platforms Shein and Temu are suing each other and are under intense scrutiny in the US over a lack of safeguards to ensure they don’t sell goods made with forced labor. (David Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images // David Henley/Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images // Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto / Fox News)
Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Florida, wrote in a post on X that the Super Bowl featuring the Tem commercial “should serve as a wake-up call to all Americans.” Additionally, “Temu is accused of stealing customers’ financial information and having spyware embedded in its app. All of that data is owned and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. Do not download this app!” added.
Temu is facing class action lawsuits in Illinois and New York. The company is accused of deceptively collecting customer data through privileges that granted access to Bluetooth and Wi-Fi network information and biometric data, and failing to adequately protect that data.
Mr. Tem did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously denied the lawsuit that its privacy policies were lax and failed to adequately protect customer data.
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Temu is a subsidiary of Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo. (Ram Ik/Bloomberg via Getty Images/Getty Images)
In June 2023, the House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Communist Party of China concluded that Tem and Shein, another China-based e-commerce platform, are linked to products made with forced labor in China. announced the interim results of the survey. Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are persecuted in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
The report found that Tem and Shein took advantage of U.S. de minimis regulations to evade customs enforcement. The de minimis rule allows nearly all of the company’s products that cost less than $800 to be imported into the United States without inspection and without the duties that most American clothing brands pay. It was also found that Tem lacked a system to ensure compliance with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Law.
“These results are shocking,” Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) said in a statement at the time. “Tem has done little to protect its supply chain from slave labor. At the same time, Tem and Shayne… is building an empire.” They circumvent minimal loopholes in our import rules: import taxes and oversight on the millions of products they sell to Americans. ”
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Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) said, “The report’s initial findings underscore the need for full transparency by companies potentially profiting from Chinese Communist Party forced labor. “We are concerned and this is reinforced. Our task force has heard from experts under oath that these practices will continue,” he added. On this day, we will strengthen laws like the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and end Uyghur forced labor once and for all. ”
