Online retailer Temu said on Wednesday that its office in Turkey had been raided by competition authorities, marking the latest regulatory scrutiny facing the Chinese-owned ecommerce platform.
Turkey’s competition authority confirmed it had carried out an “on-site inspection” at Temu’s office early on Wednesday, stressing that the action did not mean a formal investigation had been launched.
A spokesperson for Temu said the company would cooperate fully with Turkish authorities, adding that laptops and computers had been taken during the inspection. The competition authority denied that any devices were seized, saying the claim “does not reflect the truth.”
“In order to ensure that the examination currently under way can proceed properly, it is not possible at this stage to share further information,” the authority said in a statement.
Temu said last year that it had registered a local entity and opened an office in Istanbul, although the precise location of the office was not disclosed.
The move follows a raid in December on Temu’s European headquarters in Dublin, carried out amid concerns over potential unfair Chinese state subsidies.
Temu is owned by Chinese ecommerce group PDD Holdings and sells a wide range of low-cost products, from clothing to electronics, shipping directly from China to consumers worldwide under the slogan “Shop like a billionaire.”
Like rival Shein, Temu has benefited from duty-free thresholds on low-value parcels in many countries, a practice that has drawn criticism from European retailers who argue the platforms enjoy an unfair competitive advantage.
The European Union has agreed to scrap its duty-free allowance on parcels worth less than 150 euros ($176).
In Turkey, the government earlier this month abolished its 30-euro duty-free allowance, saying the move would help protect domestic production and competition and address health and safety concerns related to ecommerce imports. The new rules are set to take effect in early February.