China's Temu fined for transfer of Korean users' personal info
Temu logo is seen in front of displayed Chinese flag in this illustration, May 4. Reuters-Yonhap
Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has been fined for secretly transferring Korean users' personal information to China and Singapore, the state data protection watchdog here said Thursday.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) said it decided to impose a fine of 1.36 billion won ($970,000) on Temu during a plenary meeting Wednesday for violating the Personal Information Protection Act.
In April last year, the PIPC launched an investigation into personal data collection and usage by Temu and AliExpress — two major Chinese e-commerce platforms expanding aggressively in Korea. While the watchdog imposed a fine of about 1.97 billion won on AliExpress three months later, it postponed a decision on Temu due to insufficient data on its local sales.
Temu entrusted the processing or storage of personal information to multiple businesses in Korea, China, Singapore, Japan and other countries for product delivery but did not disclose that in its personal information processing policy, according to the PIPC.
In addition, the company did not provide management and supervision, such as education on personal information protection measures, to the multiple partner businesses.
Temu did not designate a domestic agent, though a daily average of 2.9 million Korean people were using its online platform as of the end of 2023, the PIPC noted. The company is also accused of making it difficult for users to exercise their rights by forcing them to follow seven steps to cancel membership.
But the PIPC said Temu has recently taken voluntary corrective measures, such as revising its information processing policy, disclosing its domestic agents and improving some of the membership withdrawal procedures.