Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office has new legal counsel overseeing its court battle against Chinese company Temu for allegedly deceiving Arkansans and illegally accessing their personal data.
Temu is an online shopping platform similar to Amazon or Walmart.com. In 2023, Temu was reported to be the most widely downloaded app in the U.S., and its multibillion-dollar marketing campaign — which included a Super Bowl ad in 2024 — contributed to its success.
But as a Chinese-based tech company, security and privacy experts have raised concerns about Temu.
The A.G.’s lawsuit against Temu—first filed in 2024—argues Temu’s app secretly harvests Arkansans’ private information—including precise location, installed apps, online accounts, microphones, and cameras—and funnels it to servers subject to Chinese laws.
The A.G.’s team has also alleged that the Temu app is able to bypass phone security systems, potentially granting Temu access to a user’s private messages.
The A.G. maintains that all of this is unconscionable under the Arkansas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which carries a penalty of $10,000 per violation.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Matthew Ford was the A.G.’s legal counsel on the case, but Mr. Ford withdrew last year after leaving the A.G.’s office. Earlier this month, Senior Assistant Attorney General Brittany Edwards filed paperwork with the court indicating she would be the attorney of record in the future.
It’s worth pointing out the A.G.’s allegations against Temu are very similar to points the A.G.’s office has made in its lawsuits against TikTok — another widely popular internet platform owned by a Chinese company.
Family Council is not aware of any attorney general in America who is doing more to hold tech companies accountable than Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin.
Bad actors like the Chinese Communist Party must not be allowed to secretly harvest Americans’ private data.
We appreciate Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin’s office for continuing to pursue this case so seriously in court.
Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.
