Phia startup co-founded by Bill Gates' daughter accused of fraud

The shopping startup Phia, co-founded by billionaire Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe Gates and her partner Sophia Kianni, has become the center of a serious controversy. According to an investigation by Bloomberg, the platform is accused of using a dishonest method known as "cookie stuffing." This technique may have allowed the startup to illegally collect commissions on sales it did not actually facilitate. This was reported by Techcrunch.com reports.

The Phia project was founded in 2025 and managed to raise over $40 million in investment in a short period. The presence of world-famous stars like Kim Kardashian and Hailey Bieber among the investors further increased interest in the project. However, the latest allegations are expected to severely damage the startup's reputation and cast doubt on its future.

According to Bloomberg, Phia operates as a browser extension and helps users find the lowest prices and discount codes in various online stores. The system works on the basis of affiliate marketing, meaning that if a user makes a purchase through the app, the store pays the startup a certain amount of commission.

Unfair competition and the "cookie stuffing" mechanism

The investigation revealed that even if a user visited an online store site on their own or through another platform, Phia secretly opened a new page in the background. During the payment process, the program deleted the referral codes of other partners and replaced them with its own. As a result, the reward for the purchase went to Phia's account instead of the actual referrer.

After this incident was exposed, one of the largest affiliate platforms, Impact.com, stopped working with Phia and removed it from the system. It is worth noting that such practices have caused disputes between major companies before. For example, the PayPal-owned service Honey is currently being sued over similar allegations.

In a comment to Bloomberg, Phia representatives stated that the problem had been identified and all necessary measures had been taken to resolve it. Although a follow-up investigation by the publication confirmed that the error had been corrected, it is currently unknown whether the startup's partners and major retailers are satisfied with this "fix."

At a time when online shopping and cashback services are becoming popular in Uzbekistan, such technological frauds are bringing the issue of digital ethics to the forefront of the international market. So far, Phia's management and Phoebe Gates have refrained from providing additional official statements regarding this situation.