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A promotional offer for free milk tea forced boba stores across China to close after being overwhelmed by a surge in orders.
Alibaba launched a $400 million holiday giveaway to promote its new AI chatbot, Qwen. The campaign promised users free drinks and other vouchers worth 25 yuan.
Within the first nine hours, the company recorded 10 million orders, leading to an official plea for bargain-hunters to "give the app a break".
AI just caused physical world chaos for the first time ever. 😂
— EK (@ekcheungAI) February 7, 2026
Alibaba's Qwen launched a Spring Festival promo: 30B freebies, 25¥ no-minimum cards. Use AI to order bubble tea, delivery, groceries—covers 300K+ stores like @HeyTeaOfficial @MixueIceCream.
Result? Millions of… pic.twitter.com/WobRNnu8zS
The massive influx of traffic temporarily disrupted the campaign and left many storefronts struggling to cope. Footage shared on Chinese social media showed delivery drivers in extensive queues outside bubble tea outlets.
Major participating chains were caught unprepared for the scale of the promotion. Stores reportedly ran out of cups, ingredients, and packaging, forcing many to suspend operations or halt orders as counters overflowed with dozens of unclaimed drinks.
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