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A recent tweet claimed a fire broke out in a 57,000 sq. ft. Temu warehouse in China on Monday, leading to a total loss of inventory worth nearly $56.19. Thrilla the Gorilla posted the photo on X on December 30, amassing over 7 million views and 13K reposts.
The post came with a visual, depicting a single-storey industrial building with Temu written on its wall. The roof and base of the block were seen in flames.
However, the claim is false. The X account, Thrilla the Gorilla, clarified in their bio:
"This ENTIRE account is 100% fiction except for the parts that aren't. Don't take anything I say seriously."
Another X account, Norris Cole - The Kabin Coronation Street, posted the same image on December 30. The only difference was the amount of loss—$53.29.
Norris Cole - The Kabin Coronation Street also claims to post satire and sarcasm, as per their bio. Aside from the inconsistent information in both tweets, another major giveaway of them being false is the Grok watermark on the bottom right corner of the image. Grok is X or Twitter's own chatbot used for generating AI content.
Thus, the image of the supposed Chinese warehouse in these two tweets is AI-generated and fake.
A Temu warehouse in China did not recently catch flames
Despite having "TEMU" written on the building in the viral photo in question, one of the elements in the image evokes the question about its authenticity. The logo seen next to the letters did not match the original logo of the online marketplace.
There are four icons depicting a dress, a rocking pony, a stiletto, and a shopping bag on the original logo. However, the one in the viral picture appears to have a distorted amalgamation of the icons. There is also "TEHU" written in a smaller font next to the company name.
These factors contribute to the lack of legitimacy of the picture as a whole. Upon running the image through an AI checker for further confirmation, the results detected 99% AI presence.
Temu was launched in September 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. However, it has Chinese ownership—PDD Holdings, previously called Pinduoduo.
According to a report published on December 24, the e-commerce platform has topped the charts for the most downloaded app in the U.S. in 2024, even surpassing Threads and ChatGPT. Apple also declared Temu as the most downloaded app on iPhones across the U.S. in 2024.
