After being exposed by the media, Temu has basically stopped placing cooperative advertisements through a batch of suspected fake accounts on Instagram and Facebook under Meta. The Czech social media research institution Online Risk Labs ( ORL ) stated that this network was previously mainly targeted at users in the UK and the 27 countries of the EU, with the related advertising spend approaching 1 billion US dollars.

Placed over 1.4 million times within 16 months

ORL analyzed a 16-month sample period up to April 2026 and found that among the top 100 influencer accounts that placed the most Temu advertisements, about 73 were likely not genuine. These accounts commonly exhibited characteristics such as confusing names, registration locations shown as China, Russia, Bangladesh, or Iran, and some of them frequently changed their names.

Research institutions claim that these 100 accounts were involved in over 1.4 million cooperative advertising campaigns, reaching nearly 17 billion people in total. The cooperative advertising mechanism of Meta allows creators to post content with brand logos, and subsequently, brand owners can allocate additional budgets to amplify the reach of this content, with creators receiving a portion of the profits as a commission.

The top account participates in an average of 225 activities per day.

Fortune first reported on this network on August 31. At that time, Temu was still running approximately 4,900 independent cooperative advertising campaigns on that network every day.

In the statistics of ORL, one of the largest accounts is “@findgadgetswithme” on Instagram, corresponding to the username “Ya Lilly”. This account has approximately 183,000 followers on Instagram, and under another name “Must good” on Facebook, it also has about 129,000 followers.

According to ORL, during the sample period, this account participated in approximately 278,000 Temu advertising campaigns, which averages out to about 225 campaigns per day, far exceeding the frequency of commercial collaborations for ordinary creators.

Deployment in multiple European countries has almost come to a standstill.

ORL indicates that in Ireland, Cyprus, Austria, Denmark, Latvia, and Slovenia, such cooperative advertising has almost completely ceased. Researchers have also found that many related Instagram accounts have not posted any new content or videos in nearly two weeks, and some accounts no longer display information about their country of origin.

Neither Temu nor Meta has responded to media requests for comments. The report mentions that several European jurisdictions have strict regulations regarding misleading advertising; in some areas, such practices can lead to criminal liability, while in others, consumers are allowed to file lawsuits and seek compensation from the companies involved.