{"id":4114,"date":"2026-07-12T07:18:05","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T02:18:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4114"},"modified":"2026-07-12T07:18:05","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T02:18:05","slug":"phoebe-gatess-phia-accused-of-cookie-stuffing-and-taking-affiliate-commissions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4114","title":{"rendered":"Phoebe Gates\u2019s Phia accused of &#8220;cookie stuffing&#8221; and taking affiliate commissions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/phia.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Phia<\/a>\u2019s browser extension was supposed to help <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/shopping\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">shoppers<\/a> find better deals, but it may also have redirected <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/motorola-smartphones-injecting-affiliate-codes-amazon-app\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">affiliate<\/a> commissions to itself. Let us explain. <\/p>\n<p>A celebrity-backed shopping startup co-founded by <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/author\/bill-gates\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Bill Gates<\/a>&#8216;s daughter Phoebe Gates and her former Stanford University roommate Sophia Kianni has been suspended from affiliate platform <a href=\"http:\/\/Impact.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">Impact.com<\/a>. The suspension came after a July 9 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-07-09\/gates-heir-s-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didn-t-drive\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\"><em>Bloomberg<\/em><\/a> investigation found that its browser extension claimed credit for purchases it did not actually generate.<\/p>\n<p>Testing conducted separately by <em>Bloomberg<\/em>, Capital One Shopping, and independent researcher Ben Edelman found that Phia could silently open a new browser tab during checkout and load its own affiliate link to the retailer. In some cases, that replaced the tracking code belonging to the website, advertisement, or publisher that originally sent the shopper there.<\/p>\n<p>The practice is known as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/google-backtracks-on-killing-cookies\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">cookie<\/a> stuffing\u201d or attribution fraud. In plain terms, Phia could receive credit, and potentially a commission, for a purchase even when the shopper had not discovered the product through Phia or interacted with one of its recommendations.<\/p>\n<p><em>Our big Guessing Game is back! <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/big-guessing-game-apple-edition-round-2\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Enter now for a chance to win<\/a><\/em><em> an Apple watch.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Affiliate marketing normally works by assigning a unique link to a publisher, creator, or shopping platform. When a shopper follows that link and completes a purchase, the retailer can identify which affiliate generated the sale and pay it a commission.<\/p>\n<p>According to <em>Bloomberg<\/em>, Phia\u2019s extension sometimes inserted itself at the end of that process. A shopper could arrive at a retailer independently or through another publisher, only for Phia to replace the original referral code as the shopper approached checkout.<\/p>\n<p>In one test described in the investigation, <em>Bloomberg<\/em> followed a Nordstrom link from a <em>Wirecutter<\/em> article about Fourth of July deals. Phia allegedly opened another tab in the background during checkout and replaced <em>Wirecutter\u2019<\/em>s<em> <\/em>referral information with its own. The extension reportedly behaved similarly when <em>Bloomberg<\/em> reached a shopping site through a paid advertisement from another publisher.<\/p>\n<p>Impact.com suspended the company after being alerted to the behavior, and the platform told <em>Bloomberg<\/em> that activity within the extension appeared to be inconsistent with its policies and that it was reviewing potentially affected transactions. Social media immediately was abuzz with conversation, with some people upset while some defend the 23-year-old co-founder. <\/p>\n<section x-data=\"window.newsletter({ isDeal: false })\" x-init=\"init()\" aria-label=\"Newsletter Sign-Up\" class=\"relative invisible my-12 mx-auto w-full max-w-3xl md:my-16 ziff-component accent-cut-for-gradient-bg accent-cut-border-for-gradient-bg bg-gradient-fuchsia-secondary p-[2px]\">\n<p>\n            <span class=\"text-gradient-fuchsia-secondary\">Mashable Trend Report<\/span>\n        <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/leilavclark\/status\/2075629902897061983\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/siddsax\/status\/2075934838075601375\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sharanyaxo\/status\/2075642319093772597\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HighyieldHarry\/status\/2075642613936402530\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/lulumeservey\/status\/2075715874242351530\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andrewziperski\/status\/2075640855151448453\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MorningBrew\/status\/2075654795122065874\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Phia acknowledged that there had been a problem, although the company characterized it as a software issue rather than an intentional business practice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithin the last 24 hours, we were made aware that in a recent release our codebase was causing misattributions from a subset of users,\u201d a Phia spokesperson told <em>Bloomberg<\/em>. The company said its team worked through the night to identify and correct the issue.<\/p>\n<p><em>Bloomberg<\/em> retested the extension after contacting Phia and found that it had stopped automatically claiming the referral click. Independent researchers also reportedly confirmed that the behavior was no longer occurring. It remains unclear whether the fix will be enough to satisfy Impact.com, retailers, and other affiliate partners reviewing the affected transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Phia launched in April 2025 as an AI-powered shopping assistant available through a mobile app and browser extension. The product is often described as a version of Google Flights for shopping. While someone browses clothing or accessories online, Phia searches more than 40,000 retail and resale websites for the same item, similar products, lower prices, and discount codes. It can also compare a full-price product with secondhand listings, helping shoppers decide whether to buy it new or look for a cheaper resale option.<\/p>\n<p>The company makes money in part through affiliate commissions. When Phia directs a user to a retailer and that person completes a purchase through its link, the retailer may pay the startup a percentage of the sale. That makes accurate referral tracking central to Phia\u2019s business model: The code attached to the purchase determines which platform gets credit and potentially gets paid.<\/p>\n<p>Phia grew quickly after its launch. Within its first week, the app reportedly reached No. 21 on Apple\u2019s App Store and by September 2025, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/sophiakianni_our-app-just-passed-500000-downloads-share-7373719974986694656-Sply\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">company said<\/a> it had crossed 500,000 downloads.<\/p>\n<p>Its funding grew almost as quickly. Phia <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/yolarobert1\/2025\/09\/23\/phoebe-gates-and-sophia-kianni-raise-8-million-seed-round-to-propel-growth-for-phia\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">raised<\/a> an $8 million seed round in September 2025, followed by roughly $35 million in additional funding in January 2026. The later round pushed its reported valuation to approximately $185 million less than a year after launch and brought its total funding to more than $43 million.<\/p>\n<p>Phia has also attracted an investor roster that looks less like a cap table and more like a Coachella lineup. Backers include <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/article\/khloe-kardashian-photoshop-gym\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Khlo\u00e9 Kardashian<\/a>, Hailey Bieber, <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/video\/euphoria-sydney-sweeney-giant-woman-scene-behind-the-scenes\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Sydney Sweeney<\/a>, Paris Hilton, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Jessica Alba, Mindy Kaling, Ice Spice, <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/life\/alix-earle-hot-mess-get-real-with-me-youtube-tiktok-netflix\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Alix Earle<\/a>, Karlie Kloss, and The Chainsmokers, alongside a collection of tech executives and venture capital firms.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HighyieldHarry\/status\/2075575049008931275\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HighyieldHarry\/status\/2075689301526880307\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitterEmbed twitter-tweet\"><p>\n    <a class=\"text-gray-600\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sm\/status\/2075966521810284893\" title=\"(Opens in a new tab) (opens in a new window)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n        This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.<br \/>\n    <\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some have compared the situation to <a href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/video\/honey-brower-extension-scam\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\">Honey<\/a>, the PayPal-owned coupon extension that has also been accused of replacing creators\u2019 affiliate links with its own during checkout. Honey remains the subject of an ongoing class action lawsuit, and PayPal has disputed claims that the extension improperly took commissions from creators.<\/p>\n<p>The Phia allegations also arrive after an earlier controversy involving the amount of information collected by its browser extension. In November 2025, cybersecurity researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@maahirsharma2001\/inside-phias-chrome-extension-undisclosed-data-collection-of-emails-bank-statements-instagram-f0dbc75dd90d\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">found<\/a> that the extension was transmitting copies of webpages users visited back to the company\u2019s servers, including pages unrelated to shopping.<\/p>\n<p>Those pages could include sensitive websites such as email inboxes and bank accounts, according to the report. Phia <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2025\/11\/15\/phia-ai-shopping-agent-bill-gates-phoebe-gates-sophia-kianni-collecting-user-data\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-ga-click=\"1\" data-ga-label=\"$text\" data-ga-item=\"text-link\" data-ga-module=\"content_body\" title=\"(opens in a new window)\">said<\/a> the data was anonymous, was used to determine which websites involved shopping, and was not stored. The company removed the feature after concerns were raised and said it would limit its collection to website URLs.<\/p>\n<p>Phia says the affiliate issue has been fixed, but Impact.com is still reviewing what happened and whether any transactions require further action. The extension may have stopped opening tabs in the background, but Phia\u2019s affiliate business is now getting a very public checkout.<\/p>\n<section class=\"mx-auto max-w-7xl\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap mt-8 w-full font-sans subtitle-2 editor-content\">\n<p>\n        <span class=\"mr-1.5 font-sans font-bold\">Topics<\/span><br \/>\n                    <a class=\"underline-link hover:no-underline text-secondary-300 \" href=\"https:\/\/mashable.com\/category\/artificial-intelligence\" aria-label=\"Navigate to the Artificial Intelligence tag\" data-ga-click=\"\" data-ga-label=\"$text\">Artificial Intelligence<\/a>\n            <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Phia\u2019s browser extension was supposed to help shoppers find better deals, but it may also have redirected affiliate commissions to itself. Let us explain. A celebrity-backed shopping startup co-founded by Bill Gates&#8216;s daughter Phoebe Gates and her former Stanford University roommate Sophia Kianni has been suspended from affiliate platform Impact.com. The suspension came after a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4115,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/06XU96KMjsIp4qgmeK2sUuC\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1783787137.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}