The Dallas Morning News featured Star Armor’s Founder and CEO Michael Lucci’s latest op-ed, “Like TikTok, Temu is another Trojan horse from China.” Michael applauds Texas for safeguarding its citizens and taking a strong stance against foreign digital threats, particularly from China, by enacting the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act in 2023, which became fully effective in July 2024.
He also urges Texas to take additional steps and consider actions against TEMU. In his op-ed, Michael writes:
As we enter into a new era of cyberwarfare and espionage, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is America’s most comprehensive foreign threat. The party views digital applications as espionage tools to seize as much American data as possible for Beijing’s use. Unbeknownst to many Texans, Temu, the Chinese e-commerce giant that has spent billions of dollars marketing to Americans, is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s arsenal of such tools.
While Temu is not explicitly mentioned in China’s 2017 National Intelligence Law, as a company based in the People’s Republic of China, Temu and its parent company are subject to the law’s requirement to turn over consumers’ data to the Chinese government, as outlined in a Department of Homeland Security report: “A PRC intelligence agency may request that any PRC firm or entity secretly share access to a U.S. business or individual’s data, or otherwise face penalties.”
Like TikTok, Temu is another Trojan horse for the Chinese.
Temu is part of a long-term, comprehensive strategy that China has been implementing in the United States for the better part of the last decade, using social media, advertising and e-commerce platforms to gain access to our data. The Temu app has infiltrated our homes, schools, military bases and hospitals, and that’s just the beginning.
As of May 2024, Temu had approximately 50 million users in the U.S. — approximately one third of all users across the globe, according to Sensor Tower.
To be blunt: The Chinese won’t stop unless we stop them.
The good news is that Americans are beginning to take notice and take legal action. According to a high-profile class-action lawsuit filed in Illinois, Temu has “wiretapped the electronic communications of its website visitors and failed to alert customers of a data breach.” The lawsuit continues saying that Temu “is purposefully and intentionally loaded with dangerous malware and spyware activities on user devices … all while going to great efforts to intentionally hide the malicious intent and intrusiveness of the software.”
It’s time for Texas to get in the fight.
Read the full version of “Like TikTok, Temu is another Trojan horse from China”at the Dallas Morning News.
