Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop are facing renewed scrutiny over product safety after a Reuters investigation found more than 20 skin-lightening products previously identified as containing prohibited levels of mercury still being offered through major online marketplaces.
Published on September 16, the investigation found that products appearing on banned-product lists were still available to consumers through Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop in the United States, as well as through Amazon’s third-party marketplaces in France, India, the United Arab Emirates and Belgium.
Reuters noted an important limitation: it could not independently confirm that every product currently listed still contained mercury. However, regulators and public-health authorities had previously tested or identified several products as containing prohibited levels of the toxic metal.
The findings raise a broader question for global e-commerce: how effectively can large marketplaces prevent unsafe products from reappearing when they are sold by third-party merchants operating across multiple jurisdictions?
The Reuters investigation identified more than 20 products available online that had appeared on banned-product or warning lists because of mercury concerns. Some were still being offered despite years of international restrictions.
Mercury is sometimes added to skin-lightening products because it suppresses melanin production, but exposure can cause serious health effects. The US Food and Drug Administration warns that repeated use of mercury-containing skin products can lead to kidney damage, neurological problems and other potentially permanent health consequences.
The FDA also states that mercury is not permitted in cosmetics except under very limited circumstances that do not apply to these products.
The problem is not confined to one marketplace or one jurisdiction. Reuters found suspect products available through marketplace listings accessible in:
That geographic spread matters for cross-border commerce. Products sold by third-party merchants can move quickly between markets, while seller identities, product names, and listings can change.
This makes enforcement more difficult because a product removed from one platform or seller account may later reappear under another name or through another merchant. Reuters reported that some listings also failed to disclose mercury in their ingredient information.
The investigation highlights one of the most persistent challenges facing global marketplaces. Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop do not manufacture most of the products sold by third-party sellers.
Instead, they provide the platform, payments infrastructure, traffic and, in some cases, fulfillment. That model creates enormous product selection and international reach.
It also creates a regulatory challenge. Platforms must monitor millions of listings and large numbers of independent merchants while attempting to identify products that may be unsafe, illegal or mislabelled.
The scale of the marketplace model makes manual review impossible, meaning platforms rely heavily on automated systems, seller verification, regulatory databases and consumer reports. The Reuters findings suggest that these systems do not always prevent prohibited products from reappearing.
The platforms involved maintain policies banning illegal or dangerous products. Reuters reported that the companies said they prohibit products that violate applicable safety rules and take action when they identify problematic listings.
Marketplace policies alone, however, do not guarantee that unsafe products will never appear. The more important question for regulators is whether platforms have effective systems to identify risks, verify sellers and prevent previously removed products from being relisted. That distinction is becoming increasingly important in Europe.
The European Union has significantly increased obligations for online marketplaces through the Digital Services Act and the General Product Safety Regulation.
Under the Digital Services Act, marketplaces must make reasonable efforts to verify traders, improve product traceability and reduce the circulation of illegal products. The European Commission says marketplaces must also check that products offered through their services are safe and compliant.
If a marketplace becomes aware that an illegal product has been sold, it must also inform affected customers, identify the seller and provide information about possible remedies. These rules increasingly shift regulatory focus away from individual sellers and toward the systems marketplaces operate.
Temu is already facing regulatory scrutiny in Europe over product safety. In July 2025, the European Commission preliminarily found that Temu had breached its obligations under the Digital Services Act by failing to properly assess the risk of illegal products being sold on its marketplace.
The Commission's own mystery-shopping exercise found a high risk that consumers would encounter non-compliant products, including toys and small electronics. That investigation makes the Reuters findings especially relevant.
The issue is no longer simply whether an individual unsafe product appears online. Regulators are increasingly examining whether marketplace systems are structurally capable of preventing illegal goods from repeatedly reaching consumers.
The European Commission has already demonstrated that failures around illegal products can result in significant penalties. In July 2026, the Commission fined AliExpress €550 million for breaches of the Digital Services Act related to the dissemination of illegal, unsafe and counterfeit products.
The Commission concluded that AliExpress had failed to adequately assess and mitigate the risks created by illegal products on its platform. That enforcement action established an important precedent. Large marketplaces are expected to show they have systematic safeguards in place, rather than simply removing individual products after problems are reported.
For Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop, the Reuters investigation therefore arrives at a time when European regulators are already demanding stronger marketplace accountability.
One of the biggest technical problems is preventing products from returning after they have been removed.
A seller can potentially:
This makes enforcement a continuous process rather than a one-time removal. Platforms increasingly use machine learning and product-matching systems to identify duplicate or suspicious listings.
But cross-border marketplaces also have to deal with inconsistent product information, different languages and sellers operating from multiple countries. The Reuters investigation suggests that prohibited products can still bypass these controls.
Traditional product-safety regulation is largely national. E-commerce is not. A product can be manufactured in one country, sold by a merchant in another and delivered to a consumer somewhere else entirely.
That creates gaps between different regulatory systems. The FDA, for example, can issue warnings and take enforcement action in the United States. European authorities can impose separate restrictions.
But sellers can still attempt to reach consumers through marketplaces operating globally. Reuters reported that regulators and public-health organizations have increasingly called for stronger international cooperation to address the problem. For cross-border e-commerce, this is becoming one of the most difficult compliance challenges.
The health risks associated with mercury make these products particularly serious. The FDA says mercury exposure can affect the nervous system and kidneys and may cause symptoms including tremors, memory problems and changes in vision or hearing.
Exposure can also affect other people living in the same household because mercury may contaminate towels, clothing and other surfaces. The FDA specifically warns that children and pregnant individuals can be particularly vulnerable.
This makes the issue substantially more serious than conventional marketplace problems such as inaccurate product descriptions or counterfeit branding. Unsafe cosmetics can create direct public-health consequences.
The investigation also highlights how product safety could increasingly affect competition between marketplaces. Consumers typically choose platforms based on factors such as:
Regulators are increasingly adding another requirement: trust. A marketplace that cannot effectively verify its sellers or products may face greater enforcement costs, reputational damage and stricter regulatory oversight. Large platforms therefore have a commercial incentive to improve product-safety controls beyond simply satisfying regulators.
The broader direction of regulation is clear. Governments increasingly expect marketplaces to take responsibility for the ecosystem they operate. That does not mean platforms are automatically responsible for every illegal product offered by an independent merchant.
But regulators increasingly expect them to demonstrate effective seller verification, product monitoring and rapid removal systems. The European Commission's current approach under the DSA illustrates this shift particularly clearly. Large marketplaces must assess systemic risks and show that their mitigation measures are effective.
The rapid international growth of platforms such as Temu, TikTok Shop and Amazon Marketplace makes the challenge even larger. A seller can potentially reach customers across dozens of markets without maintaining physical retail operations in those countries.
This greatly expands opportunities for SMEs and manufacturers. But it also allows problematic products to spread quickly across borders. Regulators are therefore attempting to make marketplaces part of the enforcement infrastructure.
Instead of monitoring every overseas seller individually, authorities increasingly require platforms to verify who is selling and what is being offered.
The presence of previously flagged mercury products on some of the world's largest e-commerce platforms shows how difficult product-safety enforcement remains. Amazon, Temu and TikTok Shop all have systems intended to prevent prohibited products from being sold. Yet unsafe or previously identified products can still reappear.
For marketplaces, the challenge is no longer simply removing listings when regulators identify them. The next stage is preventing those products from returning under new sellers, names or packaging. As regulators strengthen rules around seller verification and product traceability, this issue is likely to become increasingly important for cross-border e-commerce.
The Reuters investigation ultimately highlights a central tension in the marketplace model. The same open infrastructure that allows millions of third-party sellers to reach global consumers also makes it difficult to guarantee that every product offered is safe and compliant. For regulators, platforms and consumers, solving that problem is becoming one of the defining challenges of global marketplace commerce.
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