PayPal-owned Honey accused of deceptive practices and more

When PayPal acquired the shopping service and browser extension Honey, many thought that the $4 billion that the company paid was a steep price for the service.

Honey has faced its fair share off criticism in the past. A YouTuber claims now that he has uncovered deceptive business practices that impact users of the extensions but also the very people that promoted Honey.

Honey is a browser extension. Once installed, it is highlighting discounts and other beneficial codes when users visit shopping sites. It is not the only extension or service that promises that. Microsoft did even integrate its own service directly into its Edge browser.

Here is the YouTuber’s video:

Accusations against Honey pile up

The YouTuber MegaLag claims that Honey is bad for customers, webmasters, and also influencers who advertised the service.

One of the main claims surrounds the setting of affiliate cookies. According to the information, Honey is said to save affiliate cookies on user systems unethically.

Good to know: affiliate cookies are used to determine payments to third-parties. A basic example is a webmaster to adds a link with an affiliate code to a website. When a user clicks on the link to visit the linked resource, an affiliate cookie may be placed so that the linked resource can pay the webmaster when the visitor makes purchases.

Honey is saving affiliate cookies when users activate coupons, when users use the cashback program Honey Gold, and even when there are not any discounts in the service’s database and the user confirms that, according to the report.

The main issue, according to the YouTuber, is that Honey overwrites cookies from websites or other creators.

In other words: Honey will be paid when a user of the extension makes a purchase, not the webmaster or content creator who lead the visitor there. Apart from that, cookies may allow sites and marketers to track users.

How influencers may lose money with Honey

PayPal-owned Honey has sponsored videos on YouTube and maybe also other platforms. Popular YouTube creators such as Mr.Beast or Linus Tech Tips have recommended honey.

Problem is: when the same YouTubers use affiliate links for products that they recommend in their videos, Honey may interfere and overwrite their codes in the affiliate cookie with its own. The YouTuber does not earn any money when a user buys something on the linked shopping site, as Honey is getting the money instead.

More issues

Another issue surrounding Honey according to the researcher is that Honey is not always showing the best discounts. The service prioritizes offers from partners and may also ignore codes submitted by users of the app, if the codes interfere with partners.

Closing Words

Back in 2021, Ashwin suggested that Internet users who valued their privacy should not be using Honey. The new investigation adds weight to that suggestion. It needs to be verified independently though.

What is your take on extensions like Honey? Do you use them to save on the Internet? Feel free to leave a comment down below.

Summary