Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months
Internal Slack messages show the feature operated from December, Bloomberg reports, while Phia calls it a glitch
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months
Photograph: IBTimes UK (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Phoebe Gates, 23, co-founded Phia, a browser extension that hunts for discount codes and earns commission on sales it refers.
- Bloomberg reports internal Slack messages show Phia’s cookie-stuffing feature operated from at least December until it was disabled in July.
- Phia’s average daily revenue fell from about $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000 after the feature was turned off, according to Bloomberg.
- No criminal charges have been filed against Phoebe Gates or Phia as of the reporting date.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 3 of the 12 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
76/100
Craft
95/100
Hype
18/100
12 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
Only 2 of the 9 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Phoebe Gates, 23, co-founded Phia, a browser extension that searches for discount codes across online retailers. When a shopper uses one of its codes at checkout, Phia drops a tracking cookie that signals it helped close the sale, earning a commission. The practice known as cookie stuffing involves planting that cookie even when the platform played no role in the purchase.
Bloomberg reported that internal Slack messages and people familiar with the matter show Phia’s cookie-stuffing feature operated for at least seven months, beginning as early as December. The report said the feature accounted for the bulk of Phia’s revenue, spanning retailers including Nike, Gap and Nordstrom. After the feature was disabled in July, Bloomberg said Phia’s average daily revenue fell from about $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000.
Phia told The New York Post on 7 July that it had learned of the problem only within the previous 24 hours and called it a glitch. An internal dashboard seen by Bloomberg showed a toggle named "enable coupon auto drop," which the company described as a bug. Phia has said it is reviewing every transaction and issuing reversals to brand partners. Impact.com, the affiliate network, has suspended Phia and reallocated its commissions.
What the reports disagree on
Live Mint reported that Phoebe Gates wrote in a Slack message on 18 December that she was worried Phia was not earning enough commission from Etsy and asked whether the auto-pop feature for cookie drops was live on all sites. IBTimes UK reported that Gates and co-founder Sophia Kianni were aware of automated cookie-dropping features for months, citing internal Slack messages. Neither outlet reported that Gates or Kianni admitted to intentional fraud.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests mention that internal Slack messages show the cookie-stuffing feature operated for at least seven months. None of the right-rated digests name the retailers involved: Nike, Gap and Nordstrom. The centre-rated report and one left-rated report carried those details.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 4 times, most recently on 13 Aug 2026, 08:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
2 rated outlets
- The two left-rated reports led on the legal stakes of cookie stuffing. IBTimes UK opened with the potential 20-year prison sentence under federal wire-fraud law and noted that no charges have been filed. It quoted the Federal Trade Commission’s description of legitimate affiliate marketing and explained why cookie stuffing abuses that system. Futurism’s digest said the practice could land Phoebe Gates in "serious legal jeopardy."
- IBTimes UK carried the detail that Phia’s average daily revenue fell after the feature was disabled and that cookie stuffing accounted for about 51% of the merchandise value Phia claimed credit for in June. It also reported that Phia disputed Bloomberg’s data analysis and said the revenue drop reflected the disabling of other monetisation efforts. Neither left-rated report quoted Phoebe Gates or Sophia Kianni directly.
Centre
1 rated outlet
- Live Mint, the centre-rated report, led on the 20-year maximum prison sentence and the discrepancy between Phia’s public statement that it discovered the problem within 24 hours and Bloomberg’s finding that internal messages show the founders knew for at least seven months. It quoted Ariel Givner, a lawyer, who wrote on X that cookie stuffing is typically treated as federal wire fraud.
- Live Mint reported that an internal dashboard showed a toggle named "enable coupon auto drop" and that Phoebe Gates wrote in a Slack message on 18 December that she was worried about monetisation across all sites. It also carried the detail that Phia’s average daily revenue fell from about $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000 after the feature was disabled. The report named the retailers involved: Nike, Gap and Nordstrom.
Right
6 rated outlets
- All six right-rated digests led on the potential 20-year prison sentence and the allegation that Phoebe Gates engaged in cookie stuffing. The New York Post’s digest called Gates a "nepo baby." TMZ’s digest said Gates was "getting some heat" and that a report claimed she knew the practice was happening. Protothema’s digest said Gates faces 20 years in prison for "charging commissions for foreign sales."
- The right-rated digests carried the detail that Phia’s revenue fell after the feature was disabled, but none mentioned the seven-month timeline Bloomberg reported. None quoted Phoebe Gates or Sophia Kianni directly, and none named the retailers involved. USSANews’s digest called Phia an "AI-powered shopping assistant."
Read it at the source
12 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
2Centre
1Right
6- Daughter of Bill Gates accused of ‘cookie stuffing’ fraud in start-up business; Phoebe Gates could face 20 years in prison, lawyer warns (opens ussanews.com in a new tab)
ussanews.com — is ussanews.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Bill Gates' Daughter Faces 20 Years in Prison for Charging Commissions for Foreign Sales (opens Protothema in a new tab)
Protothema — is Protothema biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Bill Gates' Daughter Faces Serious Legal Problems (opens patribotics.blog in a new tab)
patribotics.blog — is patribotics.blog biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe accused of ‘cookie stuffing’ scheme that has max penalty of 20 years in prison: reports (opens New York Post in a new tab)
New York Post — is New York Post biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Bill Gates' Daughter Phoebe's App Accused of 'Cookie Stuffing' (opens TMZ in a new tab)
- Bill Gates’ Daughter’s Startup Accused of ‘Cookie Stuffing’ Scheme (opens Independent Journal Review in a new tab)
Independent Journal Review — is Independent Journal Review biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
3- Gates' daughter faces 20 years in prison over 'cookie stuffing' (opens NewsBytes in a new tab)
- Bill Gates’ Daughter’s Startup Phia Faces Scrutiny Over Alleged ‘Cookie Stuffing’ Practice (opens BreezyScroll in a new tab)
BreezyScroll — is BreezyScroll biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Phia, the Startup Founded by Bill Gates' Daughter, Allegedly Claimed Commissions for Sales It Did Not Generate (opens Saptamana Financiara in a new tab)
Saptamana Financiara — is Saptamana Financiara biased? Our profile of this outlet
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months?
- Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 22% are rated left, 11% are rated centre, 67% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 12. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months biased?
- Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months is one event reported by 12 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Phoebe Gates' startup Phia accused of cookie stuffing for seven months?
- 12 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What is cookie stuffing?
- Cookie stuffing is the deceptive placement of affiliate tracking cookies on a user’s browser without a genuine referral. It allows an affiliate to claim commission on sales it did not generate. The Federal Trade Commission describes it as an abuse of the affiliate marketing system, which is meant to credit only actual referrals.
- How long did Phia’s cookie-stuffing feature operate?
- Bloomberg reports internal Slack messages show Phia’s cookie-stuffing feature operated for at least seven months, beginning as early as December. Phia publicly said it discovered the problem only within the previous 24 hours before disabling it in July.
- What is the maximum penalty for cookie stuffing under US law?
- Cookie stuffing can be prosecuted under US federal wire-fraud law, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. The law requires prosecutors to establish a scheme to defraud, an intent to defraud, and the use of interstate electronic communications to further the scheme.
- Has Phoebe Gates been charged with a crime?
- No criminal charges have been filed against Phoebe Gates as of the reporting date. The allegations remain unproven in court, and there is no finding that she committed fraud.
How did this read?
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