Temu is one of the most downloaded shopping apps in the United States. According to Oklahoma's Attorney General, it is also secretly accessing your camera, microphone, and precise physical location without telling you.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a lawsuit last week alleging that Temu illegally collected users' personal data, infiltrated devices to harvest sensitive information, and misled consumers through bait-and-switch sign-up schemes that promised prizes and rewards that never materialized. The complaint also alleges that the app steals intellectual property and relies on forced labor from Chinese ethnic minorities in violation of U.S. trade policy.

"Temu built its business model on deception, exploiting consumers while undermining American companies and Chinese ethnic minorities in clear violation of U.S. trade policies, exposing users to serious privacy risks," Drummond said.

Temu denies the allegations. But the scope of what is alleged, including secret camera access, microphone harvesting, location tracking, fake prize schemes, and forced labor supply chains, demands a federal response, not just a state lawsuit.

"Oklahomans have a right to know when their personal information is being exploited and potentially funneled into the hands of a company with direct ties to Communist China," Drummond said.

So do all Americans.

We are calling on the Federal Trade Commission and Congress to open an immediate federal investigation into Temu's data collection practices, require Apple and Google to remove the app from U.S. stores until Temu demonstrates full compliance with American privacy law, and pass legislation banning any app from accessing a device's camera, microphone, or location without explicit user consent.

One state should not be fighting this alone. Every American who has downloaded Temu deserves to know what that app is doing to their device.