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Phoebe Gates' startup Phia faces cookie stuffing allegations
- iknowstuff 2mo agoSophia Kianni @[Engineer #2] you can just swipe it to the right and then it collapses and you can do it on the should I buy this state too and we should drop a cookie • Engineer #2 okay, I can add that. but again, isnt that against compliance? some concerns raised by wildfire in past related to placing cookies on dismiss events: The remaining issue is the background activation that occurs when a user clicks the "X" on the extension (see screen recording below). This could be flagged by Google as "dropping a cookie without the user's knowledge." Google's updated Chrome Extension policy requires that affiliate links/cookies only fire after a clear user action. They specifically prohibit injecting affiliate links in the background without related user action. At checkout, I saw a Crocs affiliate link fire automatically in the background, which is what caused my Acorns extension to prompt me to reactivate. This behavior could put your extension at risk of removal from the Chrome Web Store. Sophia Kianni Well so we don't do it when they click "X" I guess we could say that the user is trying to open us and roll it back if they complain Engineer #2 lol okay, btw its not that helpful. we still have passive trigger dropping cookies every 2 hrs and its working pretty good. as long as user has clicked on phia once for a top 1000 website, we will continue to drop cookies every 2 hrs. so, this additional drop wont matter much Sophia Kianni That makes sense yeah I just whatever we can do to keep these cookies dropping will be amazing thank you Shady
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 2mo ago1775956472 | NeoBaby Phoebe Gates wants her $185M AI startup Phia to succeed | https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/phoebe-gates-startup-phia-succeed-without-help-parents-bill-gates-melinda-french-gates/ https://fortune.com/2026/02/21/phoebe-gates-startup-phia-suc... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47735378 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47735378 1783637064 | Gates Heir's Shopping App Took Credit for Sales It Didn't Drive | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-heir-s-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didn-t-drive https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-hei... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48853409 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48853409 1783695133 | Phia Shopping App Claiming Credit for Sales It Didn't Drive | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-heir-s-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didn-t-drive https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-hei... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48860814 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48860814 1783719280 | Bill Gates Heir's Shopping App Took Credit for Sales It Didn't Drive | https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bill-gates-heirs-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didnt-drive-11752554 https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bill-gates-heirs-shopping-ap... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48865616 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48865616 1783736684 | Forced Clicks and Stand-Down Violations by Shopping Plugin Phia | https://www.benedelman.org/phia-forced-clicks/ https://www.benedelman.org/phia-forced-clicks/ | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48868011 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48868011 1783784494 | Forced Clicks and Stand-Down Violations by Shopping Plugin Phia | https://www.benedelman.org/phia-forced-clicks/ https://www.benedelman.org/phia-forced-clicks/ | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48872995 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48872995 1783806461 | Gates Heir's Shopping App Claimed Sales It Didn't Drive | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-heir-s-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didn-t-drive https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-hei... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48876180 1783943269 | Phia Under Fire: Privacy Overreach, Full-Page HTML Capture and Cookie Stuffing | https://captaincompliance.com/news/phia-under-fire-privacy-overreach-full-page-html-capture-and-cookie-stuffing-in-phoebe-gates-ai-shopping-extension/ https://captaincompliance.com/news/phia-under-fire-privacy-o... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48891216 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48891216 1784059889 | App by Gates' daughter accused of cookie stuffing to hijack commissions | https://www.newser.com/story/392634/app-by-gates-daughter-accused-of-shady-tactics.html https://www.newser.com/story/392634/app-by-gates-daughter-ac... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48912374 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48912374 1785410646 | Gates Heir's Shopping App Claimed Sales It Didn't Drive | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-heir-s-shopping-app-took-credit-for-sales-it-didn-t-drive https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-09/gates-hei... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108496 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49108496 1786573984 | Bill Gates' daughter's startup accused of 'cookie stuffing' scheme | https://nypost.com/2026/08/12/business/bill-gates-daughter-phoebe-accused-of-cookie-stuffing-scheme-that-has-max-penalty-of-20-years-in-prison-reports/ https://nypost.com/2026/08/12/business/bill-gates-daughter-p... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279488 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49279488 1786637091 | Bill Gates' Daughter Under Fire over Reported Cookie Stuffing at Her Startup | https://www.benzinga.com/news/retail-sales/26/08/61165673/bill-gates-daughter-under-fire-over-reported-cookie-stuffing-scheme-at-her-e-commerce-startup-what-is-it https://www.benzinga.com/news/retail-sales/26/08/61165673/bi... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288037 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49288037 1786664867 | It Seems Like Bill Gates' Daughter May Be in Serious Legal Trouble | https://futurism.com/future-society/bill-gates-daughter-serious-legal-trouble https://futurism.com/future-society/bill-gates-daughter-seri... | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293140 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49293140