{"id":3490883,"date":"2026-07-11T00:29:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/phia-charged-with-cookie-stuffing-claiming-affiliate-credit-on-sales-it-didnt-generate\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T00:29:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T00:29:25","slug":"phia-charged-with-cookie-stuffing-claiming-affiliate-credit-on-sales-it-didnt-generate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/11\/phia-charged-with-cookie-stuffing-claiming-affiliate-credit-on-sales-it-didnt-generate\/","title":{"rendered":"Phia charged with \u2018cookie stuffing,\u2019 claiming affiliate credit on sales it didn\u2019t generate"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/phia-charged-with-cookie-stuffing-claiming-affiliate-credit-on-sales-it-didnt-generate.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phia, the shopping enterprise co-founded by Phoebe Gates, the daughter of Bill Gates, alongside Sophia Kianni, faces accusations of engaging in a practice called \u201ccookie stuffing,\u201d which reportedly aided the product in obtaining commissions and credit for sales it allegedly did not produce, as highlighted by a Bloomberg investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This report has ignited controversy and resulted in Phia&#8217;s suspension from Impact.com, a prominent affiliate and influencer platform. Other startups have faced lawsuits related to \u201ccookie stuffing,\u201d including Honey, owned by PayPal, which is currently involved in an ongoing class action lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Established in 2025, Phia has secured over $40 million in funding, boasting a lineup of notable investors such as Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian and Hailey Bieber. The startup created an app functioning as a browser extension that resembles Google Flights, but is focused on shopping. Phia aids users in discovering the lowest-priced products from various retailers and provides discount codes for their purchases. The firm earns a commission on transactions conducted through its platform, a common industry practice referred to as affiliate marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bloomberg investigation, along with insights from an independent consultant and a competitor, revealed that whenever a user accessed an online retail site \u2014 even if they reached it independently or through a different affiliate program like Wirecutter \u2014 Phia would launch a new tab in the background. During the checkout phase, Phia would substitute the referral codes from other affiliates with its own, enabling it to claim credit for and possibly earn a commission on a purchase it did not generate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the issue was brought to Phia\u2019s attention, a spokesperson informed Bloomberg that all necessary steps had been taken to rectify the problem. A subsequent review by Bloomberg confirmed that the issue had been addressed. It remains uncertain if the resolution will be satisfactory for the retailers and affiliate partners collaborating with Phia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TechCrunch has contacted Phia for a statement but has yet to receive a reply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article was revised to clarify the celebrity investors associated with the company.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/phia-charged-with-cookie-stuffing-claiming-affiliate-credit-on-sales-it-didnt-generate.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Phia, the shopping enterprise co-founded by Phoebe Gates, the daughter of Bill Gates, alongside Sophia Kianni, faces accusations of engaging in a practice called \u201ccookie stuffing,\u201d which reportedly aided the product in obtaining commissions and credit for sales it allegedly did not produce, as highlighted by a Bloomberg investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This report has ignited controversy and resulted in Phia&#8217;s suspension from Impact.com, a prominent affiliate and influencer platform. Other startups have faced lawsuits related to \u201ccookie stuffing,\u201d including Honey, owned by PayPal, which is currently involved in an ongoing class action lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Established in 2025, Phia has secured over $40 million in funding, boasting a lineup of notable investors such as Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian and Hailey Bieber. The startup created an app functioning as a browser extension that resembles Google Flights, but is focused on shopping. Phia aids users in discovering the lowest-priced products from various retailers and provides discount codes for their purchases. The firm earns a commission on transactions conducted through its platform, a common industry practice referred to as affiliate marketing.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bloomberg investigation, along with insights from an independent consultant and a competitor, revealed that whenever a user accessed an online retail site \u2014 even if they reached it independently or through a different affiliate program like Wirecutter \u2014 Phia would launch a new tab in the background. During the checkout phase, Phia would substitute the referral codes from other affiliates with its own, enabling it to claim credit for and possibly earn a commission on a purchase it did not generate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the issue was brought to Phia\u2019s attention, a spokesperson informed Bloomberg that all necessary steps had been taken to rectify the problem. A subsequent review by Bloomberg confirmed that the issue had been addressed. It remains uncertain if the resolution will be satisfactory for the retailers and affiliate partners collaborating with Phia.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">TechCrunch has contacted Phia for a statement but has yet to receive a reply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>This article was revised to clarify the celebrity investors associated with the company.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3490884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490883"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3490883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3490883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3490884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3490883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3490883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/techingeek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3490883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}