Most of the creators Temu pays to push its products on Facebook and Instagram in Europe do not appear to be real people, with 73 of its top 100 partners flagged as likely fake accounts, according to Online Risk Labs research.
Fortune shared the story of Ya Lili, a creator account with 183k Instagram followers and 129k Facebook followers that regularly posts AI-generated videos featuring Temu products. Ya Lili is listed as a top creator for Temu’s partnership ads on Meta platforms in the UK and Europe, but she’s likely not even a real creator.
Ya Lili’s content ran in over 100k Temu ad campaigns throughout 2025 and the first half of 2026, which is about 225 campaigns per day. Temu spent as much as $962M on ads like these across all of its “creators” during the same time period in the UK and Europe, according to ORL.
ORL’s manager, Vendula Prokůpková, told Fortune:
“Among the top 100 influencers collaborating with Temu, there are certainly some real people among them. In my estimate, however, they account for no more than 15–20%. By contrast, I have serious doubts about the authenticity of accounts that, according to the platform, are based in Russia, China, or Iran.”
It’s not clear whether Temu itself is behind the fake accounts, or if they’re aware that the accounts are fake, and neither Ya Lili nor Temu responded to Fortune’s request for comment. However, the article notes that “the likely fake accounts potentially set up a legal quagmire for Temu, as European law bars the use of misleading formats for advertising,” particularly over presenting AI-generated content as authentic recommendations from real people.
Then again, what exactly does “fake” mean anymore? Is Wirecutter “fake” because it’s a team of professionals putting out their product videos instead of just one solo creator? Is MrBeast involved in fraudulent activity for naming his channel after himself and not his entire production crew?
Perhaps it’s fair that Temu could be more transparent about their creator accounts, if they’re the ones behind them, but that alone doesn’t necessarily mean they’re doing anything illegal or breaking any platform rules.
