Phia, the shopping startup founded by Bill Gates’ daughter, Phoebe, and her friend Sophia Kianni is under fire for a practice known as “cookie stuffing,” which helped the product receive commissions and credit for sales it did not actually generate, per a Bloomberg investigation.
Microsoft nepobaby recreated Honey, complete with all its slimy privacy and linkjacking practices, just under new brand name
EVERYONE is doing this. Not that I support it, but I’m surprised it still works.
Email clients do it, Reddit does it, tons of apps, even different browsers. I think at one point Microsoft was doing it in Edge (or was that only discount code stuffing?). Affiliate link and cookie rewriting is everywhere.
ETA:
Phia would override the referral codes from other affiliates and instead inject its own, allowing it to take credit for and potentially receive a commission on a purchase it didn’t earn.
Just to be clear, if you post a link on Reddit, Reddit rewrites the it to add their own affiliate links. Microsoft does this. Chat apps do it. It’s not a secret.
I should add “that’s wrong” is tongue in cheek. Obviously it’s wrong. My point is the rubicon has been crossed so many times it’s fucking ridiculous.
That’s wrong?
EVERYONE is doing this. Not that I support it, but I’m surprised it still works.
Email clients do it, Reddit does it, tons of apps, even different browsers. I think at one point Microsoft was doing it in Edge (or was that only discount code stuffing?). Affiliate link and cookie rewriting is everywhere.
ETA:
Just to be clear, if you post a link on Reddit, Reddit rewrites the it to add their own affiliate links. Microsoft does this. Chat apps do it. It’s not a secret.
I should add “that’s wrong” is tongue in cheek. Obviously it’s wrong. My point is the rubicon has been crossed so many times it’s fucking ridiculous.