{"id":2286951,"date":"2024-07-01T09:06:01","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T13:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/communist-party-connected-temu-is-worse-than-tiktok-2\/"},"modified":"2024-07-01T09:09:40","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T13:09:40","slug":"communist-party-connected-temu-is-worse-than-tiktok-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/communist-party-connected-temu-is-worse-than-tiktok-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Communist Party-Connected Temu Is Worse Than TikTok"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcommunist-party-connected-temu-is-worse-than-tiktok-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2286951&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>2023&rsquo;s TikTok fiasco, the Committee on\u2062 Foreign Investment in\u200c the United States (CFIUS) \u200bopened\u200d its official \u2064investigation in November 2013, relating to ByteDance&rsquo;s acquisition of \u2062Musical.ly. Now, despite a thorough review and a formal\u2064 commitment to national security safeguards, we \u200cfind ourselves in Egypt on the verge of a consent decree \u200cand four months past President Joe Biden&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/biden-keeps-trump-era-ban-on-temu-wechter-trumps-move-to-block-chinese-app\/\">deadline<\/a> \u200d to address\u200b the risks \u2062of \u2063PDD&rsquo;s dodgy app.<\/p>\n<p>Temu remains a \u200dnational security \u200cconcern that the \u200bBiden administration has so \u2062far turned a blind \u2062eye\u200c to, and it&rsquo;s \u200done we must immediately address. We cannot afford to wait until another\u200c deadline passes to take action on this explosive threat.In the United States, millions of people are using Temu, a\u200c Chinese-based \u200ce-commerce company \u2063that has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/supreme-court-halts-online-sports-betting-deal-in-florida\/\" title=\"Florida&#039;s online sports betting deal halted by Supreme Court.\">experiencing rapid growth<\/a>\u200b and is \u2062now targeting the American market. This is concerning\u2064 because many <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/top-five-takeaways-this-is-what-we-know-about-letitia-jamess-fraud-lawsuit-against-trump\/\" title=\"Top Five Takeaways: This Is What We Know About Letitia James\u2019s Fraud Lawsuit Against Trump\">high-ranking executives<\/a> at Temu have ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which presents a potential cybersecurity threat to\u2063 sensitive American data. Despite\u2063 operating at a\u200d loss, Temu continues to heavily advertise in the U.S. through social media and even had a \u2063Super \u200cBowl commercial. This company \u200bposes a greater threat than \u200bTikTok, and it \u2064has been \u200creported that its \u2064app\u200c can access almost \u200ball data on a user&#8217;s\u2062 phone.\u2062 There \u200dis also speculation that Temu is selling this stolen data to other parties.\u200d Despite \u2062the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) investigating the company in 2023, the Biden administration\u200c has\u2063 yet to take any action to address this threat. It is important\u2062 that \u2063steps are taken \u2064immediately to\u2063 protect\u2064 American data and address the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israeli-owned-spyware-firms-blacklisted-by-us-commerce-department-over-national-security-risks\/\" title=\"US Commerce Department blacklists Israeli spyware firms due to national security risks.\">human \u2063rights abuses<\/a>, slave labor, and intellectual property theft associated with Temu and its parent\u2063 company, PDD.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>If you polled Americans on whether they would be comfortable handing over sensitive personal and financial information to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), you would likely get a near-unanimous declaration of &ldquo;no!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But this is precisely what more than <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/business-68563339\">100 million Americans<\/a> using Temu have done, according to analysis by SimilarWeb.<\/p>\n<p>Temu, a China-based e-commerce company, has witnessed meteoric growth since its inception in 2022. It has its sights set on $60 billion in sales this year, after an impressive showing in 2023 as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/temu-us-e-commerce-700-percent-growth-2024-1\">second-fastest-growing<\/a> website behind OpenAI&rsquo;s ChatGPT. Known for its heavily discounted products (made less expensive by leveraging relaxed Chinese labor, manufacturing, and distribution laws), Temu is all-in on saturating the American e-commerce marketplace &mdash; not that slave labor could ever be &ldquo;relaxed.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In addition to spending <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/temu-us-e-commerce-700-percent-growth-2024-1\">76 percent of its budget on social media ads<\/a> and millions more on commercials &mdash; including its unsettling, CCP propaganda-laden &ldquo;Shop Like a Billionaire&rdquo; Super Bowl ads &mdash; it is operating at a staggering loss. By one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/temu-is-losing-millions-of-dollars-to-send-you-cheap-socks\/\">estimate<\/a>, Temu is losing $30 per order in an effort to penetrate the American consumer market.<\/p>\n<p>If the company was comprised of marketing geniuses with extensive experience scaling up e-commerce giants, you might be able to spin this as another risky long-term start-up strategy. But a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/06\/15\/tech\/temu-parent-company-led-by-top-former-chinese-communist-officials\/\">report<\/a> revealed that top Temu executives &mdash; including executives overseeing their public and legal affairs, public relations, and operations &mdash; are former high-ranking officials of the CCP. Perhaps this is one of many reasons why they&rsquo;re targeting America so heavily with this app and not offering the platform in China.<\/p>\n<p>Like America&rsquo;s tech giants, Temu is full steam ahead in its bid to move fast and break things. But it&rsquo;s breaking more than brand loyalty to Amazon, and the cost could be the integrity and security of sensitive American data.<\/p>\n<h2>Cybersecurity Threat<\/h2>\n<p>The threats China poses to the cybersecurity of critical American assets have been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dni.gov\/files\/ODNI\/documents\/assessments\/ATA-2021-Unclassified-Report.pdf\">well established<\/a>. In addition to operating the most advanced domestic surveillance apparatus in the world &mdash; thus, highly competent in poring over large sums of data that enable coercive action to shred individual agency and freedom &mdash; China has wielded the sensitive information of Americans to aid its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/tech\/security\/china-spent-years-collecting-americans-personal-information-u-s-just-n1134411\">traditional espionage efforts<\/a>. Even if we cannot see the full effects now, come election season or the further escalation of geopolitical conflict, China is accumulating the exact kind of personal information through Temu it would need to wreak havoc at a moment&rsquo;s notice.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cotton.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/cotton-to-biden-investigate-and-ban-temu\">articulated<\/a> how Temu fits into this mix, asserting that it is &ldquo;a threat to American producers, investors, online retailers, and every single American&rsquo;s personal privacy.&rdquo; He underscored why it almost assuredly poses an even greater threat to our national security than TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>As revealed by one <a href=\"https:\/\/grizzlyreports.com\/we-believe-pdd-is-a-dying-fraudulent-company-and-its-shopping-app-temu-is-cleverly-hidden-spyware-that-poses-an-urgent-security-threat-to-u-s-national-interests\/\">study<\/a>, once downloaded, Temu can access almost anything on your phone &mdash; the camera, internet, audio recordings, etc. That means the CCP could theoretically install applications and spyware files on an individual&rsquo;s smart device to use for complete surveillance of all user activity on a phone. This would allow China to monitor keystrokes and logs to have direct insight into login credentials for other social media, emails, and bank accounts.<\/p>\n<p>In other words, Temu can just as accurately be called a malware program as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-state-tv-encourages-boycott-of-hm-nike-over-comments-about-abuses-in-xinjiang\/\" title=\"China State TV Encourages Boycott Of H&amp;M, Nike Over Comments About Abuses In Xinjiang\">e-commerce platform<\/a>. No wonder Temu&rsquo;s CCP-veteran executives are willing to lose $30 an order. Furthermore, Temu&rsquo;s parent company, PDD, was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2023-03-21\/google-suspends-pdd-s-main-app-after-finding-malware-in-versions?embedded-checkout=true\">removed from Google Play<\/a> on the grounds that the fraudulent app had harmful malware that captured highly sensitive personal information, including biometrics, geolocation, and more. And it is common practice for China to refine its cyberattack tactics once exposed to be not only more virulent but more hidden.<\/p>\n<p>And while it has yet to be corroborated, there is <a href=\"https:\/\/grizzlyreports.com\/we-believe-pdd-is-a-dying-fraudulent-company-and-its-shopping-app-temu-is-cleverly-hidden-spyware-that-poses-an-urgent-security-threat-to-u-s-national-interests\/\">increasing speculation<\/a> that Temu and its parent company are making up for the aforementioned profit losses by selling stolen data from American customers to nefarious actors such as data brokers.<\/p>\n<p>If the fact that Temu provides a direct vector for the CCP to steal sensitive American personal information isn&rsquo;t reason enough to act, this is before addressing the Chinese company&rsquo;s unapologetic human rights abuses, use of slave labor, counterfeiting of Amazon storefront products, and intellectual property theft.<\/p>\n<h2>Time to Act<\/h2>\n<p>Amid all the national discourse on the threats of TikTok to American security and data privacy, Temu has been largely ignored. But with the signing of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2024\/4\/24\/24139036\/biden-signs-tiktok-ban-bill-divest-foreign-aid-package\">TikTok divestiture law<\/a>, more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/news\/stories\/chinese-government-poses-broad-and-unrelenting-threat-to-u-s-critical-infrastructure-fbi-director-says\">unvarnished rhetoric<\/a> coming out of Washington on the cybersecurity threats China poses to America&rsquo;s posterity, and growing bipartisan efforts zeroing in on China, now is the time to act.<\/p>\n<p>While federal action on this issue is needed, absent meaningful progress in Congress, states can take action of their own. Last year in Texas, state Rep. Jared Patterson introduced <a href=\"https:\/\/capitol.texas.gov\/tlodocs\/88R\/billtext\/pdf\/HB02206I.pdf\">HB 2206<\/a>, which would prohibit the operation of social media developed or provided by hostile foreign entities. Texas is poised to lead on this in the 2025 legislative session, and hopefully other states and Congress follow.<\/p>\n<p>As Temu continues its aggressive push into the American market, the question remains: Are the low prices worth the high risks? With concerns over data privacy, security, and the company&rsquo;s ties to the CCP, it is clear Temu is not just another e-commerce platform. It is a Trojan horse, offering cheap goods while quietly siphoning off sensitive American data. The time has come for consumers to think twice before clicking &ldquo;download&rdquo; on Temu, and for lawmakers to take decisive action to protect our national security and individual privacy.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      David Dunmoyer is campaign director for Better Tech for Tomorrow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. He <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/communist-party-connected-temu-is-worse-than-tiktok\/\" title=\"Temu, Linked to the Communist Party, Poses Greater Risks Than TikTok\">develops conservative technology policy solutions<\/a> for the Texas Legislature and previously worked for the Republican leadership in D.C.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Platform<\/p>\n<p>A poll of Americans would reveal their discomfort with giving personal and financial data to the CCP. Yet, over 100 million Americans using Temu have done just that, per SimilarWeb&#8217;s analysis. Temu, a Chinese e-commerce site, has raised concerns about data privacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3164,"featured_media":2286952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/5050490591_de587a6b4b_k-e1719596803241.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[6371,33455,32364,33454,6248],"class_list":["post-2286951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-censorship","tag-communist-party","tag-social-media","tag-temu","tag-tiktok"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/5050490591_de587a6b4b_k-e1719596803241.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2286951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2286951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2286952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2286951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2286951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2286951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}