Chinese e-commerce platform Temu has been fined more than 1.3 billion won ($928,000) by South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) for multiple violations of the country’s Personal Information Protection Act, including the unauthorized transfer and processing of personal data.

Temu, which entered the Korean market in 2023 with an aggressive ultra-low pricing strategy, has quickly grown to become one of the leading Chinese e-commerce platforms in the country, boasting over 8 million users.

The PIPC announced on Thursday that it had imposed an administrative fine of 1.37 billion won and an additional penalty of 17.6 million won on Temu.

The commission also issued corrective orders and improvement recommendations.

According to the PIPC, Temu transferred user data — including names and personal customs clearance codes — to companies in China and Singapore without informing or obtaining consent from users.

The company also collected and processed resident registration numbers of Korean sellers without legal grounds while piloting a local-to-local sales program earlier this year.

Temu reportedly failed to disclose in its privacy policy that personal data was being handled or stored by multiple overseas operators in China, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.

The commission added that the company did not cooperate fully with the investigation, as it failed to submit financial data needed to determine the fine amount.

The investigation into Temu was launched in February last year, alongside a probe into AliExpress.

In July 2024, the commission fined AliExpress 1.98 billion won for similar privacy violations related to the cross-border transfer of user data.

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