TikTok is not the only popular app that may be a front for Chinese spying. Texas is now suing Temu, the discount shopping app used by some 80 million Americans, claiming deceptive practices and data harvesting for China. The suit filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton accuses Temu's parent companies of collecting data on users and sending it back to China, where it can be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Paxton calls Temu a "digital Trojan Horse" that presents itself as a "harmless way to buy affordable products" while secretly accessing users' private data.
This is the latest in a series of lawsuits filed by Paxton this week against Chinese-linked companies operating in Texas, including the tech manufacturer TP Link.
It turns out the threat from Temu may be even greater than data mining. "Temu has been sending into Texas, and I assume other states, seeds that are unsolicited," says Gordon Chang, author and China expert. "And that appears to be part of a coordinated plan to plant invasive species in the United States."
"In other words, that's a biological weapons attack on American agriculture," he continues. "And that means that Temu is an instrument of a very dangerous regime."
Those mysterious seeds have been showing up in Texas for the last couple of years, prompting investigations and warnings by public officials. Chang tells KTRH many of those seeds were sent using Temu, which should raise even more red flags about the app.
"We know the (Chinese) regime has used Temu for data mining, but also to send into the United States seeds that are unsolicited, which appears to be an attack on American agriculture," says Chang. "So until we get to the bottom of this, I hope that the federal government bans Temu."
Photo: Getty Images