In response to growing controversy and criticism, Chinese marketplace Temu has suspended its “Cash reward” commercial operation. The campaign, which was widely shared on social networks, offered users in France the opportunity to win a prize pool of at least 100 euros by downloading the application and clicking on a sponsorship link. However, participants unknowingly agreed to sell part of their personal data for life in exchange for the cash reward.
Due to backlash over the repurchase of users’ personal data, sparking concerns about potential espionage, Temu has temporarily removed the program and optimized it based on customer feedback. Despite initial success in France, the marketplace has suspended its offer indefinitely.
The terms and conditions of the campaign indicated that users agreed to the marketplace using and publishing their personal information for promotional purposes. However, following public outcry, Temu clarified that they only collected usernames and profile photos. Despite this clarification, concerns about the use of personal data remain.
Experts warn that commercial profiling could lead to spam, unwanted emails, and even phishing operations if the information falls into the wrong hands. Additionally, there are concerns that the Chinese government could potentially access the data for research purposes, raising questions about data privacy and security. Users are being urged to be cautious about sharing their personal information online and to carefully review the terms and conditions of any offers that involve data collection.
