5 Shopping Tools Accused of Similar Affiliate Scams as Phia

Phia, a shopping browser extension that helps people find deals across the web, is in hot water. The buzzy startup, cofounded by Phoebe Gates—daughter of tech billionaire Bill Gates—and Sophia Kianni analyzes shopping prices and recommends discount codes for shoppers across the web. On July 9, Bloomberg reported that the app violated standard practices for affiliate marketing by taking credit for sales it did not drive. Typically, affiliate marketing firms only earn commission if someone clicks one of their own affiliate links and makes a purchase. Instead, Phia reportedly drove fake clicks, linking retailers with its affiliate codes in the background that allowed it to receive revenue regardless of whether someone clicked on a Phia link. The practice is referred to as “cookie-stuffing” and involves placing cookies onto browsers, overriding other referral codes and replacing them with its own, allowing affiliate marketing firms to inaccurately take credit for sales and commissions. Phia launched last year and has secured $43 million in funding from big-name investors like Notable Capital and Kleiner Perkins, as well as celebrities and executives including Sydney Sweeney and Sheryl Sandberg. The company claims its app has been downloaded 1.2 million times. Phia told Bloomberg that the issue has been fixed. A spokesperson for Phia did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ADWEEK. Phia is hardly the only browser extension to be accused of inaccurately taking credit for sales. PayPal, Capital One, and RetailMeNot have been accused of similar cookie-stuffing practices, with some resulting in class-action lawsuits. Here’s a rundown of the key affiliate networks accused of cookie-stuffing. PayPal PayPal’s browser extension, Honey, was accused of swapping out the affiliate codes associated with affiliate networks and creators for its own in 2024. The practice resulted in several lawsuits, including separate cases from YouTubers Devin Stone (known as LegalEagle) and Stephen Burke (known as GamersNexus). Additionally, a group of more than 25 similar lawsuits were consolidated in the Northern District of California. While the case is ongoing, PayPal has won several dismissals over its practices. PayPal did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication. Capital One In September 2025, Capital One settled a lawsuit from social media creators who alleged that its browser extension, Capital One Shopping, stole their commissions from sales. Capital One denied any wrongdoing, and the company agreed to pay $4 million in attorney fees and flat payments. In a statement, a spokesperson said that the class claims in the case totaled $3,357 with the remaining $4 million going to attorney fees that are currently under court review. The spokesperson claimed that the company’s practices are not similar to Phia’s alleged practices. “It would be inaccurate to compare allegations of unauthorized background click manipulation with standard, user-approved shopping tools like Capital One Shopping,” the spokesperson said. Microsoft Launched in 2020, Microsoft killed off the coupon and affiliate feature on its Edge browser extension last year amid a lawsuit. Boycat, which describes itself as an “ethical” shopping app that earns commissions from affiliate marketing, filed a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft in the Western District of Washington, alleging Microsoft stole commissions, affecting creators’ ability to make money from shopping recommendations. The lawsuit specifically focuses on Microsoft’s shopping tool as being pre-installed on its own products, giving the company “a competitive edge” to other browser extensions that require consumers to download them and create an account. The lawsuit is currently active. “Edge Shopping is an optional feature that follows common industry standards and rules, provides shoppers with additional product choices, and access to lower prices. We believe these claims are without merit,” said a Microsoft spokesperson. The spokesperson added that the decision to remove the Coupons feature was unrelated to the lawsuit. RetailMeNot The couponing app’s browser extension helps consumers find coupons across the web and get cash back for shopping. Social media creators Edgar Oganesyan and Matthew Ely filed a class-action lawsuit against the company within the New York federal court in 2025, claiming that RetailMeNot inserted its own affiliate commission program, replacing those that drove traffic to retailers’ websites. The case remains ongoing. “RetailMeNot works actively with merchants, networks and content partners to ensure all rules are understood and followed and that everyone, especially the end consumer, has the best experience,” said a RetailMeNot spokesperson in a statement. Rakuten Rakuten is an affiliate marketing program that scours the web for discount codes and also gives cash back to shoppers who install its browser extension. Similar to PayPal, RetailMeNot, and Capital One, Rakuten has faced class-action lawsuits claiming that it steals commissions away from creators. Creators have filed a string of similar lawsuits against Rakuten. In 2025, tech and business YouTuber Joshua van Aalst, who goes by Just Josh, filed a lawsuit against Rakuten within the Northern district of California, alleging that the “Rakuten Extension cheats creators out of commissions they are entitled to during the checkout process.” A consolidation of similar lawsuits is ongoing. “Rakuten Rewards is built on a model of explicit user intent,” said a spokesperson in a statement. “We identify opportunities for rewards and offers, and we only place cookies when a member affirmatively clicks and accepts an offer.”

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5 Shopping Tools Accused of Similar Affiliate Scams as Phia

Lawsuits accusing marketing firms of "cookie-stuffing" have become common

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Lauren Johnson

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