Temu is a relatively new, popular shopping app based in China that is used by millions of people all over the globe. It was the most downloaded app in the U.S. for the last few months of 2022 and remained there throughout 2023. By May of last year, Temu had 100 million users in the United States.
Sadly, it is believed that all of these users have unwittingly had their data subjected to misappropriation by Temu. Are you one of these people? If so, you may be eligible for a class action lawsuit.
Temu Data Breach
After conducting a thorough review of Temu, experts have found that the app collects more private user data than is necessary. This includes biometric information and private data, both of which simply aren’t necessary for a shopping app.
“Temu is able to hack your phone from the moment you install the app, overriding the data privacy settings you think you have in place, as well as your intentions…” the lawsuit states.
Privacy experts concluded that the Temu gains access to “literally everything on your phone.”
They allege that Temu collects the following:
- Content on users’ phones, including their contacts, text messages, photos and calendars
- Camera and microphone access
- Precise location data
- Bluetooth and WiFi network information
- Biometric info, including face scans and voice and fingerprints
- Activity on other apps running on the user’s device
- System information, operating processes and phone serial numbers
How To Join The Class Action Lawsuit Against Temu
In its simplest form, a class action lawsuit is when a group of people – plaintiffs – all file a lawsuit together as one group, or when one person files a lawsuit on behalf of a group.
In this case, plaintiffs have brought suit against Temu for a heightened risk of fraud due to the app’s handling of their personal data.
The lawsuit “seeks to hold Temu accountable under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, state ‘Right to Privacy’ laws and other state consumer fraud and deceptive business practices statutes, among others.”
Find out if you are eligible here.
How Do Class Action Lawsuits Work?
Class action law has evolved over the last few decades. But there are specific rules binding class actions, known as Rule 23 in the federal rules for civil procedures. The Legal Information Institute lays out what the court must find in order to approve a class action:
- The number of class members renders it impracticable to join them in the action
- The class members’ claims share common questions of law or fact
- The claims or defenses of the proposed class representatives are typical of those for the rest of the class, and
- The proposed class representatives will adequately protect the interests of the entire class.
In short, multiple plaintiffs must all have sufficiently similar claims of damage, such that a ruling would largely have the same affect on all class members. The question is then before the court: have all these plaintiffs indeed suffered similar harm from the defendant?
How Long Do Class Action Lawsuits Take
Again, the answer is: it depends on the case.
In some cases, the answer is 10 minutes! Defendants can try to end the case before it even begins by settling with the plaintiffs – typically this means payments. According to Top Class Actions, settlements can typically take up to nine months or a year.
However, if class actions go to trial, the timeline becomes years long – typically two or three years, according to the Cochran Firm.
