Phia, a shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates that has raised $43.5M, appears to be using fake clicks or “cookie stuffing” to claim affiliate commissions

Phia, an advertising startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates, daughter of billionaire Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates …

Bloomberg 2026-07-12

Context & Ripple Effects

Phia enters the coverage as a funded shopping-app company tied to Phoebe Gates, while the reporting raises questions about how it is being credited for affiliate-driven sales.

The surrounding corpus places the allegation alongside earlier reporting on ad-fraud networks and startup misrepresentation, making attribution integrity—not just one app’s conduct—the relevant industry issue.

First-order effects

Merchants and affiliate networks working with Phia may need to audit referral logs, commission payouts, and the validity of clicks attributed to the app.
Phia faces immediate reputational, partner, and investor scrutiny over the reported use of click behavior that could redirect commissions.

Second-order effects

Affiliate platforms and retailers may tighten validation rules for browser redirects, app-driven referrals, and last-click credit, potentially delaying or withholding disputed payouts.
Shopping, coupon, and deal-discovery apps that rely on affiliate revenue could face more demanding compliance reviews as partners seek to distinguish legitimate referral traffic from manipulated attribution.

Third-order effects

If similar cases continue to surface, affiliate marketing is likely to shift toward more auditable, fraud-resistant attribution rather than relying primarily on easily manipulated click-based credit.
The episode reinforces a broader accountability gap in venture-backed consumer apps: growth and monetization claims increasingly depend on verification by platforms, merchants, and investors.

The trend: This is one data point in the push to make digital-ad and affiliate-revenue attribution verifiable as fraud allegations move from opaque ad networks into consumer-app business models.

Discussion

@sm Sara Mauskopf on x
Here's how the actual Phia investors responded when they heard yesterday's news: “Someone pour me up a double shot of whiskey” -Shaboozey “Don't let me don't let me don't let me down. Don't let me down” -The Chainsmokers “You thought I was feeling you? Nah” -Ice Spice [image]
@growing_daniel Daniel on x
Actually the Phia thing is dumb. They act like she lied about revenue when all she did was maybe violate the terms of service for some affiliate programs.
@alexpallny Alex Pall on x
lol this is funny. I just want to say a couple of things and then I'm done with this convo. First off this was a small personal check from us outside of Mantis. We do not do consumer via our fund but personally we can invest in anything we want to support.
@victoriazmei Victoria Mei on x
The Phia controversy isn't just about affiliate links. It's about who owns distribution in the AI era. For years, media companies, creators, coupon sites, and affiliates sat between consumers and brands. Now AI shopping agents want to become that layer. The battle isn't over
@whodecides_ @whodecides_ on x
“I'm talking about Phia, the AI shopping assistant” [image]
@tenreirodaniel Daniel Tenreiro on x
Born into a 100 billion dollar fortune & still commits fraud for entreprenista clout. Major lesson there
@boringbiz_ @boringbiz_ on x
Phoebe Gates, and her co-founder, Sophia Kianni, went on “Call Her Daddy” podcast last year to talk about how they made up a fake male agent to negotiate on their behalf and land speaking deals at conferences At one point, Kianni mentions how she was afraid that everyone would [v…
@mualphaxi Maxwell Meyer on x
Uh oh.... the Phoebe Gates & Sophia Kianni fashion shopping startup did a fraud, injected their web cookie onto ~all~ user purchases to try to claim affiliate commissions. Unclear how widespread, but if Bloomberg News spent weeks investigating it... [image]
@mattyryze Matthew Graham on x
terrible terrible take. this should only apply to honest swings and misses, not egregious ethical lapses, in this case allegedly fraud. [image]
@glitchceo Benny on x
Phia's “cookie stuffing” is genius (and pretty hilarious.) I've never seen so much effort put into forcing attribution. Elite ball knowledge 💯 Their extension pre-populates discount codes automatically for consumers, but without the click being attributed to them, they [image]
@leilavclark Leila Clark on x
> Phia was launched by Phoebe Gates, 23, and friend Sophia Kianni in 2025. Why is it always the high-flying, flashy newly-grad founders who do this shit? I understand being impatient. It's an important trait of any good founder. But it seems like some group of Stanford/MIT [image…
@sharanyaxo @sharanyaxo on x
The media would be fawning over Phoebe Gates if she were another socialite influencer partying, walking red carpets and living off her famous surname. Instead, she's building a company, so every misstep becomes a story. At a time when trad wife and sugar baby lifestyles are
@highyieldharry @highyieldharry on x
The thing with Phia too is the founders seem to spend a significant amount of their time running a podcast I'm more convinced a lot of Gen Z wants to play pretend founder & are shooting for fame & attention instead of all the brick by brick work
@lulumeservey Lulu Cheng Meservey on x
First thing Phia needs to do is stop using this dumb excuse that it was a random glitch they were just “made aware” about Nobody's buying that. And when you have a crisis of trust, the worst thing you can do is strain credibility further Second is get founders to quit hiding
@andrewziperski Andrew Ziperski on x
Dunking on Phoebe Gates is easy because it aligns with popular narratives. I'd like to see the business media — and the timeline — show as much rigor in identifying, investigating, and commenting on the enormous amounts of fraud and abuse committed by founders who aren't easy
@aakashgupta Aakash Gupta on x
Bill Gates' daughter got caught skimming affiliate commissions with an invisible browser tab. Not a rumor. Bloomberg tested it, a fraud researcher tested it, a competitor tested it, and all three watched Phia's extension plant its own tracking code on purchases it had nothing to
@ghoshal @ghoshal on x
Excuse me, but Elizabeth Holmes playing off Phia's founders as a couple of ingenues certainly has my attention. Phia's founders have the best education, incredible investors and advisors, and they're presumably talented. So let's try to give them the credit they deserve.
@highyieldharry @highyieldharry on x
You're telling me the Startup that thinks it's a festival isn't what it seems? [image]
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
Then why is Jensen saying it costs $100bn per gigawatt? Isn't a lot of the cost here gpus? Also - meta is not bringing 5.5GW of compute online this year sorry that's ludicrous [image]
@highyieldharry @highyieldharry on x
I can't believe The Chainsmokers didn't do deeper diligence into Phia. Feels like the fabric of venture capital has been broken.
@trace_cohen Trace Cohen on x
Ok PR crisis comms 101 (and prob their best usage day) 1) silence - don't say anything or try to fix it yourself. 99% of time never works 2) war room - get everyone together ASAP. Get all the facts and on the same page 3) put out personal, non ego, humble apology accepting the
@maritimetank M. T on x
The bigger takeaway for me is that Phoebe Gate's startup Phia is just a browser extension that finds discount codes?
@rl_env @rl_env on x
Damn this is missing: - Delve - Poetic - Hebbia - Phia - Icon
@kenwattana Ken Wattana on x
I posted positively about Phia on my LinkedIn and I'm going to have to go delete it aren't I
@farmerjoe0x @farmerjoe0x on x
So let me get this straight... It ran tasks in the background, erased website cookies, and made it seem for the ecommerce stores that all traffic is from Phia? Tell me how that is not malware/spyware. [image]
@kalesha @kalesha on x
IMO Phia customers/investors fit a certain archetype: - no fingers on the pulse - like being told what to do but still being made to think it's their idea - Rhode phone case as an accessory - zero diligence - will buy a product because it has a hero positioning - values do not
@hjack_ Heather Jackson on x
guys i kinda feel bad for the phia girlies :( nepo babies should really just run foundations or whatever, but she dared to dream, and her dad probably said a lil fraud was okay, and now here we are, shopping retail without shitty ai extensions like idiots
@flippymeister @flippymeister on x
Actually far worse than the headline makes it sound: - During checkout, Phia opened background tabs / registered fake clicks without user interaction & replaced legitimate referrer codes with its own. - Result: hijacked affiliate commissions from real publishers & referrers via
@towheretobegin Leon on x
couple months ago I went to phia for a hackathon and very quickly it was obvious that the incentives in ecommerce are really out of whack today. you have to either rely on benevolent oligopolies like google or very unpredictable solo UGC & affiliates personal software is rare [im…
@carolinedowney_ Caroline Downey on x
The cookie that Phia stamped onto my browser drove me so crazy that I had to delete the app. Very annoying feature I'm sorry but most people can scavenge for good prices for fashion online by using good old fashioned Google search
@nisreenmandvi Nisreen on x
No pile-on to Phoebe but some notes on affiliate businesses in fashion/commerce: The stack is as such: merchants (own budgets) -> networks (Rakuten, etc. - oligopoly arena w/ most merchant relationships today) -> publishers (ShopMy, LTK, Phia types) -> creators/consumers.
@lucasmachadocsv Lucas Machado on x
as someone who built a competitor to Phia, i can confidently say that i saw this coming
@mattyryze Matthew Graham on x
the article is much worse than the headline, people have gone to prison for this exact same thing (affiliate marketing cookie stuffing, it's fraud)
@nic_carter Nic Carter on x
you don't even have to ask. the answer is yes [image]
@jamiequint Jamie Quint on x
It's not right to do this, and if this is what it takes to make it stop than great, but this is not unique to Phia and many of the shopping plugins and coupon websites do some version of this. Affiliate programs look the other way because it boosts usage and their own revenue.
@highyieldharry @highyieldharry on x
This is incredible content [video]
@anothercohen Alex Cohen on x
No fucking way Forbes 30u30 strikes again [image]
@ashleymayer Ashley Mayer on x
Fortunately for Phia, the modern crisis comms playbook is clear: 1) don't apologize, investors stay quiet 2) announce $1B ARR, investors rejoice
@tbpn @tbpn on x
Phiagate, explained in horse terms You go from HorseReviews dotcom over to ClydesdalesDirect dotcom. You have Phia installed as an extension. You buy a stunning Clydesdale from the website using its online shopping features, knowing that this particular horse breed — large and [v…
@investor_nick_ @investor_nick_ on x
While everyone is trashing Phoebe Gates for the Phia scam ... I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the real mastermind of the whole thing is actually this chick ... [image]
@ghoshal @ghoshal on x
GM, a quick video of how coupon app @Phiaco_ runs its scam (and some content on how and why below). 1. A user goes to @dupeapp to find their next fav product (imagine this is your fav YouTube creator doing the hard work of driving a click after painstakingly making content) 2. [v…
@thestalwart Joe Weisenthal on x
Wow. Great Investigation from @oliviasolon @jeffykao and Priyanjana Bengani on how Phia, a startup founded by Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe, takes $$ from other outlets (e.g. Wirecutter) by surreptitiously injecting its affiliate code into transactions it didn't actually generate. …
@elizabethholmes Elizabeth Holmes on x
@moneyballinvest Did you read the actual story? The comments from the company? (Bug in software that was unintentional) The accused conduct? (Generating revenue where she didn't earn it, not faking customers) Who was saying it? (her competition) It's a bullshit story that leverag…
@lulumeservey Lulu Cheng Meservey on x
You forgot to cut the crust off your slop [image]
@broadglow @broadglow on x
Lol when Zuck scraped Harvard emails he was a genius, and then some girls come up with a pretty good greyhat growth hack and everyone loses their mind Also on content, its the same as Roy Lee on twitter, etc. Their target customers is a teenage girl, and instead of paying for
@jeremymstamper Jeremy Stamper on x
I've known Phoebe Gates online since she was a teen, so I might be biased but nothing in the Bloomberg reporting shows she personally engaged in wrongdoing. Phia's browser extension opening background tabs and inserting affiliate codes comes from technical implementation choices
@suchenzang Susan Zhang on x
since when did financial fraud get rebranded as “claiming credit for things it didn't do” like an ai researcher switching labs?
@mil000 Milo Smith on x
The real founder of Phia is Sophia Kianni, but the story is only interesting when it's a “billionaire's daughter”
@karthikvelappan Karthik Velappan on x
Forbes30 stays winning....in listing/predicting upcoming scams. https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]
@sdrth Siddharth Jaiswal on x
Time to look at how Phia is probably getting the shopping data through unofficial Google Shopping APIs. I am not 100% sure but last I checked, it appeared to show Google Shopping data. Could be through a third party scraper like SERP API, which has become common practice with
@parikpatelcfa @parikpatelcfa on x
Forbes 30u30 strikes again [image]
@jeremymstamper Jeremy Stamper on x
I'd commit fraud too if my dad were Bill Gates & said I'd only get $10m
@boringbiz_ @boringbiz_ on x
When Bill Gates was 23, he had bootstrapped Microsoft with zero VC funding, and was generating $7M of ARR in 2026 dollars Meanwhile, his daughter is lying about KPIs after raising a $35M Series A from a list of investors that looked like a Coachella billboard Incredible stuff
@raqisright @raqisright on x
“Claimed sales it did not drive” you mean fraud?
@jakuuire Joe on x
Welp.... [image]
@bgedelman Ben Edelman on x
Shopping plugin Phia is forcing clicks and dishonoring stand-down. Clear violations of affiliate network rules. My article provides video and packet log evidence. https://www.benedelman.org/...
@vshih2 Victor Shih on x
This is just horrendous. You have a mediocre app to begin with which got funded likely because of nepotism. Then it has to cheat and steal from other apps and from vendors in the millions. Why aren't people outraged by this? https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@oliviasolon Olivia Solon on x
Buzzy shopping app Phia, founded by Phoebe Gates, (Bill's daughter) took credit for sales it didn't influence, our testing found. It also replaced other referrers' affiliate codes in violation of stand-down policies. With @acookiecrumbles & @jeffykao https://www.bloomberg.com/...

Chronicles