Phia accused of 'cookie stuffing,' taking affiliate credit on purchases it didn't earn

Phia, a shopping startup co-founded by Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe Gates, has been accused of a practice called cookie stuffing. A Bloomberg investigation found that Phia would open a new browser tab in the background when users shopped online. Then it would inject its own referral code during checkout, taking credit for sales it did not earn. The company was suspended from the affiliate platform Impact.com.

Phia is a browser extension that helps shoppers find the best prices and discount codes. It raised over $40 million from investors including Khloé Kardashian and Hailey Bieber. Cookie stuffing tricks the system into paying commissions to the wrong company. PayPal's Honey faced similar accusations and is still fighting a class action lawsuit. Phia says it has made all necessary changes to fix the issue.

If apps secretly steal commission credit, it hurts other websites that honestly earned it. It can also mean higher prices for shoppers when stores lose money to fraud.