{"id":27228,"date":"2026-08-15T10:45:58","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T07:45:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/?p=27228"},"modified":"2026-08-15T10:45:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T07:45:58","slug":"phia-gates-komisii-cookie-stuffing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/world\/phia-gates-komisii-cookie-stuffing\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Gates\u2019s daughter\u2019s start-up has been accused of commission fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"news-lead\">The start-up Phia, co-founded by Bill Gates\u2019 daughter Phoebe Gates, has been accused of potentially receiving affiliate commissions for online purchases in an unauthorised manner. A Bloomberg investigation, published by Fortune, describes possible misattribution of sales. The company denies some of the allegations, acknowledges errors and reports that it is reviewing its operations and compensating its partners. No criminal charges have been brought against the founders or Phia.<\/p>\n<div class=\"news-summary-box\">\n<p><strong>Briefly about the main points<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bloomberg described the possible automatic setting of affiliate cookies in Phia.<\/li>\n<li>Internal documents suggest that the founders may have been aware of this as early as December 2025.<\/li>\n<li>Following the deactivation of these features, the service\u2019s daily revenue fell significantly.<\/li>\n<li>One affiliate network has suspended its partnership and is refunding commissions.<\/li>\n<li>20 years is the theoretical maximum sentence, not the charge against Phia.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2>How could sales have been incorrectly attributed?<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Phia<\/strong> It acts as an online shopping assistant: it compares prices, searches for discounts and suggests alternatives. The service receives a commission from retailers through affiliate programmes for each customer it refers.<\/p>\n<p>The Phia extension could automatically set affiliate cookies, even if the user did not click on the service\u2019s link or take up the discount it offered. This could have resulted in the start-up receiving commission on purchases in which it was not actually involved.<\/p>\n<p>This practice is known as \u2018cookie stuffing\u2019. Affiliate network rules usually prohibit it, as the commission may be redirected away from another participant. Phia stated that one of the proposed options \u2014 automatically setting a cookie after a pop-up window is closed \u2014 had not been implemented.<\/p>\n<h2>Internal documents have cast doubt on the previous explanation<\/h2>\n<p>Bloomberg cites internal Slack messages and earlier versions of the source code. According to these sources, <strong>Phoebe Gates<\/strong> and its co-founder <strong>Sofia Kianni<\/strong> may have been aware of the problematic functions since at least December 2025.<\/p>\n<p>The company had previously attributed the incorrect recording of sales to a software error, which it claimed to have only become aware of following enquiries from journalists in July. According to Bloomberg, new evidence casts doubt on this explanation.<\/p>\n<h2>Following the suspension of these features, the service\u2019s revenue fell<\/h2>\n<p>The disputed features were disabled on 7 July. Following this, Phia\u2019s average daily revenue, according to Bloomberg, fell from approximately $80 thousand to $10\u201328 thousand \u2014 a decline of almost three to eight times.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives of the start-up attribute the decline not only to the cessation of incorrect attribution. According to them, the company simultaneously disabled most of the platform\u2019s monetisation methods.<\/p>\n<p>One of Phia\u2019s affiliate networks has suspended its partnership with the company and begun a review of commission payments. The company has stated that it has removed all features that could have led to incorrect crediting and plans to appoint a compliance officer.<\/p>\n<h2>What does the reference to a possible 20-year prison sentence mean?<\/h2>\n<p>The figure of 20 years mentioned in the reports is the theoretical maximum penalty under the US federal offence of fraud involving electronic communications \u2014 Section 1343 of the US Code. This is the maximum penalty, not the charge brought.<\/p>\n<p>As of 15 August, no criminal charges had been brought against Phoebe Gates, Sofia Kianni and Phia. In order to bring criminal proceedings, the police would need to prove deliberate intent to defraud their partners, rather than a technical error or negligence.<\/p>\n<p>Lawyers interviewed by the American media consider the return of commissions, financial sanctions, the termination of partnership agreements and possible civil claims to be the most likely outcomes. Compensation may mitigate partners\u2019 claims, but does not in itself establish the presence or absence of a legal offence.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bloomberg reported on a possible instance of cookie stuffing at Phia. Phoebe Gates\u2019s start-up has acknowledged errors in attribution and has begun refunding commissions to its partners.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":207433346,"featured_media":27227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_description":"Bloomberg \u043e\u043f\u0438\u0441\u0430\u0432 \u043c\u043e\u0436\u043b\u0438\u0432\u0435 cookie stuffing \u0443 Phia. \u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f \u0424\u0456\u0431\u0456 \u0413\u0435\u0439\u0442\u0441 \u0432\u0438\u0437\u043d\u0430\u0432 \u043f\u043e\u043c\u0438\u043b\u043a\u0438 \u0432 \u0430\u0442\u0440\u0438\u0431\u0443\u0446\u0456\u0457 \u0442\u0430 \u043f\u043e\u0447\u0430\u0432 \u043f\u043e\u0432\u0435\u0440\u0442\u0430\u0442\u0438 \u043a\u043e\u043c\u0456\u0441\u0456\u0457 \u043f\u0430\u0440\u0442\u043d\u0435\u0440\u0430\u043c.","rank_math_title":"\u0421\u0442\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430\u043f Phia \u0424\u0456\u0431\u0456 \u0413\u0435\u0439\u0442\u0441 \u0437\u0432\u0438\u043d\u0443\u0432\u0430\u0442\u0438\u043b\u0438 \u0443 cookie stuffing","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Phia","td_subtitle":"","subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[805619],"tags":[805624],"class_list":["post-27228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-805624"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207433346"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27229,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27228\/revisions\/27229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ukrmedia.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}