Overview
- Bloomberg’s follow-up reporting says leaked Slack messages from December 2025 show co‑founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni discussing automated cookie insertion to capture affiliate credit.
- An internal dashboard reviewed by reporters labeled the behavior a switchable feature called “enable coupon auto drop,” not a one‑off bug.
- Phia’s own charts indicate that after the feature was disabled in early July the company’s average daily revenue fell from about $80,000 to roughly $10,000–$28,000 and an internal analysis estimated that unauthorized cookie insertion accounted for about 51% of June’s claimed merchandise value.
- Phia disputes some of the published accounting, says it removed the problematic features in July, is reversing transactions and hiring compliance staff, and at least one affiliate network, Impact.com, has suspended Phia and reallocated commissions.
- The allegations carry legal and commercial risk because cookie stuffing can be treated as fraud under U.S. law, past cases have led to criminal and civil actions, and the episode adds to earlier concerns about Phia’s rapid growth, staff turnover and tracking practices which could prompt lawsuits and regulatory scrutiny.