Chinese budget brand Temu floods X with ‘free £50 cash giveaway’ but there's warnings over alarming Ts&Cs
26 March 2024, 19:55 | Updated: 28 March 2024, 12:57
Social media users are being warned against signing up for a Temu cash giveaway which offers users 'free money' in exchange for new sign-ups.
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The cheap Chinese shopping website has been offering as much as £100 to those who sign up, primarily in the form of Temu vouchers and direct cash into PayPal accounts.
Some social media users claim to have made thousands using the giveaway, though there are warnings it is "too good to be true".
A Temu spokesperson: “Some participants in our recent Cash Reward campaign have expressed concern about the promotion’s terms and conditions (T&Cs).
“To reassure our customers, we have tweaked the T&Cs to make it clear that we only ever use username and profile pictures in this promotion for referral functionality and winner announcements.”
“The previous terms and conditions were overly broad and inadvertently included promotional uses that Temu does not engage in. Customer trust and satisfaction is at the heart of Temu, and we do not and will not sell customer data.”
Meanwhile, Temu's wider privacy policy shares personal information about shoppers with third parties, including advertising platforms.
The Chinese brand denies that it "sells" your data, though only in a "traditional sense".
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Its privacy policy states: "At Temu, we care deeply about privacy.
"While Temu shares your personal information for the purposes of targeted advertising, which may be considered a "sale" under applicable privacy laws, Temu does not "sell" personal information in the traditional sense."
It comes amid growing fears about Chinese interference in British society, including by accessing personal data.
On Monday, Deputy PM Oliver Dowden said that Chinese state-affiliated actors were responsible for two "malicious" cyber hacks which targeted "both our democratic institutions and parliamentarians".
Mr Dowden said the attempts were "unsuccessful" and claimed Britain would not tolerate any further campaigns. Two individuals and a company in Wuhan were sanctioned.
Tory MPs have been calling on the Government to adopt a tougher stance on China, including by limiting trade and increasing sanctions.
Temu has not been known to share its data with the Chinese authorities though the brand does have broad access to its users' profiles.
