Temu has largely stopped funding a $1 billion network of fake influencer accounts on Meta’s platforms following exposure by Fortune. The network operated on Instagram and Facebook, targeting users in the U.K. and 27 European Union countries. The activity spanned 16 months, ending in April 2026, and involved nearly 1.4 million partnership ads with a cumulative reach of almost 17 billion views, according to Online Risk Labs (ORL).
ORL, a Czech-based social media research group, analyzed Temu’s advertising activity and found that 73 out of the top 100 influencers promoting Temu were likely fake accounts. These accounts often had nonsensical names, were based in countries such as China, Russia, Bangladesh, or Iran, and frequently changed names—typical signs of inauthentic behavior. Temu ran about 4,900 partnership campaigns daily on this network before the exposure, which was published by Fortune on August 31.
Meta’s partnership ad program allows influencers to create branded content that companies can boost with paid ads, sharing revenue with creators. Earlier this year, Meta disclosed that partnership ads were on track for a $10 billion annual run rate across Facebook and Instagram. Temu’s extensive use of fake accounts to amplify its ads highlights ongoing challenges in policing authenticity on social media platforms and the scale at which brands may exploit these systems.
By September 4, just days after the Fortune report, Temu had reduced its partnership campaigns on the fake network by 90%, signaling a swift response to the exposure. Online Risk Labs provided the detailed analysis of Temu’s ad activity and fake influencer network to Fortune for this report.