Phia Fixes Cookie-Stuffing Bug After Claims It Took Unearned Affiliate Sales Since December 2025
Updated
Updated · Engadget · Jul 11
Phia Fixes Cookie-Stuffing Bug After Claims It Took Unearned Affiliate Sales Since December 2025
1 articles · Updated · Engadget · Jul 11
Summary
Within 24 hours of being alerted, Phia said it identified, mitigated and resolved a bug that caused affiliate-sale misattributions for a subset of users.
Investigations by Ben Edelman, Bloomberg and Capital One Shopping found the AI shopping extension used fake clicks and cookie stuffing to attach Phia’s affiliate code to purchases it did not drive.
Edelman said the app’s affiliate link could load invisibly in a second iOS tab after a shopper visited a merchant site, allowing Phia to claim commissions owed to other publishers.
The feature tied to the issue was rolled out in December 2025, extending scrutiny of Phia, the shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni after its launch last spring.