Home  >  What in the World  >  The unstoppable rise of Temu
What in the World
The unstoppable rise of Temu
What in the World
Apr 2, 2024

You may have started seeing adverts on your social media feed for a website called Temu. Its motto is “shop like a billionaire” and it sells… well, pretty much everything. The only thing the products in its marketplace have in common is that they’re dirt cheap and made in China.

It’s the global wing of a Chinese e-commerce shopping company and burst onto the scene in 2022. It’s now worth just under 150 billion dollars. It’s aggressively marketed itself, releasing glossy adverts during the Superbowl, cultivating an army of influencers and offering promotions that encourage users to sign up other shoppers for cash giveaways.

But the small print details of these deals got some experts worried about data and privacy protection.

Alex chats to BBC Business and Tech reporter Sam Gruet talk about the origins of the company and how it manages to make money when its products are so cheap.

Hannah speaks to BBC journalist Tom Espiner about the giveaway promotion and why users may have signed away more than they’d bargained for.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld

WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6

Email: [email protected]

Presenter: Hannah Gelbart and Alex Rhodes Producers: Baldeep Chahal and Maria Clara Montoya Editors: Verity Wilde and Simon Peeks

More Episodes
Feb 5, 2025
USAID: Can the world live without it?

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is under fire. It is the world’s biggest donor and spends billions of dollars a year, funding programmes around the world, like fighting malaria in Bangladesh, clearing unexploded landmines in Cambodia and Laos and providing medical supplies in Sudan.

But President Trump says it is run by “radical lunatics” and he and billionaire Elon Musk, who’s got the job of trying to slash American government spending, want to shut it down. They have paused almost all international spending for 90 days and issued “stop work” orders to their staff. BBC journalist Nathalia Jimenez tells us what USAID does - and why the Trump administration wants to close it.

A large proportion of USAID funding goes towards healthcare and HIV medication in sub-Saharan Africa. Makuochi Okafor, the BBC’s Africa Health correspondent tells us what impact closing USAID could have in this region.

Anselm Gibbs, a BBC reporter based in Trinidad and Tobago, tells us about programmes USAID funds in the Caribbean. And Hilde Deman from Search for Common Ground, an international NGO that uses USAID funding in countries affected by violent conflict, talks about the impact to their work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Instagram: @bbcwhatintheworld Email: [email protected] WhatsApp: +44 0330 12 33 22 6 Presenter: William Lee Adams Producers: Benita Barden and Julia Ross-Roy Editor: Rosanna La Falce


13min 08sec




The unstoppable rise of Temu

--:--
--:--