What Is Cookie Stuffing? Bill Gates’ Daughter Phoebe Gates’ Startup Phia Under Scrutiny

Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe Gates, 23, is facing renewed scrutiny over allegations involving her shopping startup Phia, which has been accused of using a practice known as “cookie stuffing” to claim credit for online sales it may not have generated. A Bloomberg investigation reported that Phia’s co-founders, Gates and Sophia Kianni, were aware of features that could place affiliate tracking cookies even when shoppers had not used Phia’s services.

The allegations are more extensive than the company initially acknowledged. Phia said in July that it had learned about the issue “within the last 24 hours” and described it as a software problem. However, Bloomberg’s later reporting, based on internal Slack messages and company data, said the practice had been known internally since at least December 2025. Phia disputes aspects of that characterization and says it has removed the affected features and begun reversing transactions involving misattribution. Bill Gates Confirms 3 Extramarital Affairs; Tells US Congress Jeffrey Epstein Tried To Blackmail Him.

What is cookie stuffing?

“Cookie stuffing” is an affiliate-marketing practice in which a tracking cookie associated with an affiliate is placed on a user’s browser without the user taking the action that would normally justify the referral.

Affiliate cookies are designed to identify which website, app or publisher referred a customer to a retailer. If that customer subsequently makes a purchase, the affiliate can receive a commission. Bill Gates’ Relationship History: List of Microsoft Co-Founder’s Past Girlfriends.

The problem arises when an affiliate places its tracking cookie even though it did not actually refer the customer. The affiliate can then receive credit for a sale generated through another source.

The U.S. Department of Justice has previously prosecuted cookie-stuffing schemes as wire fraud. In one case, prosecutors said the practice involved creating “forced clicks” that allowed an affiliate to receive commissions for sales it did not generate. Wire fraud carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison in the relevant federal statute, although the potential sentence in any particular case depends on the charges and circumstances.

What is Phia Accused of Doing?

Phia operates as a digital shopping assistant that helps users find products and discount codes from online retailers. When a shopper legitimately uses an affiliate coupon or referral, Phia can receive a commission when the transaction is completed.

According to Bloomberg’s reporting, however, Phia had features that could place tracking cookies during the checkout process even when a shopper had not selected or used a Phia coupon. The practice allegedly allowed the company to claim credit for transactions that it had not directly driven.

An internal dashboard reviewed by Bloomberg reportedly identified one such feature as “enable coupon auto drop”. The reporting said the feature could be switched on or off. The allegations reportedly involved sales at major retailers including Nike, Gap and Nordstrom.

What Did Phoebe Gates Reportedly Know?

The Bloomberg investigation cited internal Slack communications indicating that Gates and Kianni were aware of concerns surrounding the tracking features months before the company publicly described the issue as a newly discovered bug.

At one point, Gates reportedly raised concerns about Phia’s commission revenue from Etsy and asked developers whether the browser extension was dropping cookies whenever its pop-up appeared, even if a shopper did not click a coupon.

In a Slack channel on Dec. 18, she wrote: “worried this is an issue across the board…can u confirm auto pop for cookie drop is live on ALL sites w a coupon to confirm we are monetizing on all gmv.” The message is part of the internal communications cited in Bloomberg’s investigation. It does not, by itself, establish that Gates personally committed fraud or that she understood the conduct to be unlawful.

What Did Sophia Kianni Say?

Bloomberg also reported that Kianni discussed a separate proposed feature that could have placed a cookie when a user attempted to close a Phia pop-up. A colleague reportedly told Kianni that Google Chrome prohibited extensions from dropping affiliate cookies on “dismiss events,” meaning when a customer simply attempted to close a notification.

Kianni responded: “I guess we could say that the user is trying to open us and roll it back if they complain,” according to the report. Phia told Bloomberg that this particular feature was never implemented.

Phia Says it Removed the Features

A Phia spokesperson told The Post: “Any features causing misattributions were immediately removed over a month ago on July 7. We are reviewing every transaction, we are fully committed to and have already begun issuing all transaction reversals to brand partners as a result of any misattribution, and we are hiring a head of compliance to make sure something like this never happens again.

“We are now continuing to connect our users with items and offers from thousands of brand partners,” the spokesperson added. “We will learn from this and want to ensure our users have the best possible shopping experience, with features like our new digital closet and more to come.”

Phia has disputed the extent of the revenue impact described in Bloomberg’s analysis. The company said the sharp decline in July revenue was also caused by disabling other monetization features, rather than cookie stuffing alone.

According to Bloomberg’s reporting, Phia’s average daily revenue fell from approximately USD 80,000 to between USD 10,000 and USD 28,000 after the features were disabled in July.

A Phia data scientist reportedly estimated that cookie stuffing accounted for about 51% of the merchandise value Phia claimed credit for selling in June. Phia has challenged Bloomberg’s analysis and said the revenue decline reflected the suspension of most of its monetization efforts at the time, not solely the removal of the disputed cookie features.

Impact.com, an affiliate network used by Phia, suspended the startup from its marketplace following the reporting, according to Fortune. The network also said it was reallocating commissions attributed to Phia that had not yet been paid.

Phia says it has begun reviewing transactions and issuing reversals where sales were incorrectly attributed to the company. Because the reported practice may have operated from December through July, the company could face additional financial obligations if further transactions are found to have been misattributed.

How Serious are the Legal Allegations?

The term “cookie stuffing” describes a deceptive affiliate-marketing practice, but its presence in a business does not automatically mean that a particular individual has committed a federal crime.

Legal exposure would depend on the facts, including intent, conduct, applicable agreements and whether prosecutors determined that federal criminal laws had been violated.

The Justice Department has previously brought wire-fraud cases involving cookie stuffing. In one prosecution, the government said the practice caused affiliates to receive commissions for sales they did not generate. The relevant wire-fraud statute carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, although that is a statutory maximum rather than a prediction of any sentence in the Phia matter. There is currently no indication in the material reviewed that Phoebe Gates has been criminally charged over the Phia allegations.

What Is Phia and Who Founded It?

Phia is a digital shopping platform co-founded by Gates and Kianni, who met at Stanford. The company uses technology to help shoppers compare products, find deals and discover offers from online retailers.

The startup has attracted significant attention and investment, including backing from prominent figures in business and entertainment. Recent reports have put its total funding at USD 43.5 million following a USD 35.5 million seed round, although earlier reports cited a USD 30 million raise in 2025.

The latest controversy now puts the company’s affiliate-marketing practices and internal oversight under greater scrutiny.

For Phia, the immediate issues are determining the full extent of any misattributed sales, reversing affected commissions and strengthening compliance procedures. The company says it has already begun that process and is hiring a head of compliance.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 13, 2026 07:11 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).