Republican Lawmakers Demand Intel from SEC, FBI on Temu’s U.S. Data Privacy Practices
Regulators and lawmakers continue to hound Temu for the risks it poses to the U.S. consumer market.
Congressman Darin LaHood (R-IL) and other Republican members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) sent a letter to Gary Gensler, chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and Christian Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Wednesday morning, requesting a briefing directly related to the low-cost e-commerce player.
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The letter expresses intense concern over Temu’s purported links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and brings “the practices of Temu and PDD—ranging from possible trade, slave labor and national security concerns” to the fore. LaHood and the signatories state that because Temu’s parent company, PDD Holdings, is listed on the Nasdaq, it falls under the purview of the SEC.
The signatories note that due to the myriad issues they outline in the letter, they have concerns about the privacy rights of American consumers shopping or browsing on Temu.
“We are concerned about the protection of Americans’ data. Analogous to Congress’ action on TikTok, the relationship between the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese national security laws and Americans’ data must be understood,” they wrote. “We have concerns that the CCP has undertaken yet another attempt to exploit the democracy, free market principles and the personal and economic data of the United States.”
PDD Holdings’ headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland, but the company was founded in Shanghai, China; it changed its legal domicile in 2023. Temu’s headquarters is listed as being in Boston, but many of its sellers are Chinese manufacturers or businesses.
Fox News Digital reported that LaHood said he holds major concerns about Americans’ data and that Temu’s link to China “has elevated the risk to American consumers, with the potential to allow private and sensitive data to be transferred to foreign adversaries.”
“Given the widespread and growing public security concerns regarding Temu, which is listed on the Nasdaq, it’s critical that our federal partners at the FBI and SEC brief the Intelligence Committee to ensure Congress conducts proper oversight on growing threats from the CCP,” LaHood told Fox.
Beyond LaHood, signatories to the letter include representatives Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Penn.), French Hill (R-Ark.), Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), Scott Perry (R-Penn.), Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Dan Crenshaw (R-Tex.), Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) and Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.). None of the signatories to the letter were Democrats, though members of the party have previously condemned Temu and competitor Shein’s behavior.
The Republican signatories asked the FBI and the SEC to share a joint briefing on a variety of questions. They asked that the FBI disclose whether it has shared intelligence on Temu’s labor issues, data practices and potential CCP linkages with the SEC; that the two agencies detail “laws and policies [that] stand in the way of greater information sharing between the intelligence community and the SEC,” and that the SEC share whether it has requested additional intelligence about PDD and Temu—and what assistance the FBI has provided if so.
A spokesperson for the SEC said Gensler will address members of Congress directly and did not comment further.
The letter is far from the first political outcry against Temu. In late August, the attorneys general of 21 states sent a letter to Chen Lei, CEO of PDD Holdings, demanding questions about consumer data, forced labor and potential connections to the CCP. That followed a formal lawsuit over privacy concerns, which Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed in June. Numerous other politicians, like Marco Rubio, have been vocal detractors of Temu and Shein, and the Biden-Harris administration’s new proposed rules around the de minimis provision target companies capitalizing on China-direct shipping to U.S. consumers.
Sourcing Journal reached out to Temu, Rep. LaHood’s office and the FBI for comment. None of the three entities immediately returned those requests.