9to5Google replicated reports that Motorola phones reroute Amazon launches through affiliate links, briefly opening Chrome before sending users back to the app.
Smart Feed—a hidden preinstalled system app—appears to intercept Amazon only when it is opened from the app drawer, making the behavior harder for users to spot.
The traffic reportedly passes through devicenative.com and then kira-abboud.com before reaching Amazon; older Smart Feed versions did not show the same redirects, pointing to a recent update.
Motorola has not publicly explained the issue. Users can stop the redirects by disabling Smart Feed in Settings, while scrutiny grows over whether the company was monetizing purchases without consent.
Is Motorola's app intentionally hijacking Amazon links, or is it a sign of a deeper software compromise?
Beyond Motorola, could pre-installed apps on any phone be secretly hijacking user actions for profit?
By embedding affiliate fraud in its phones, what penalties could Motorola now face from Amazon and regulators?