Phia, an artificial intelligence-powered shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates, the 23-year-old daughter of Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is facing allegations that its browser extension generated commissions from online sales it did not directly drive.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the app's browser extension was allegedly recording what were described as "fake clicks" on retail websites, allowing purchases to be attributed to Phia and generating affiliate commissions even when the app had not referred users to those merchants.
The company said the issue has been resolved, explaining that the problem was introduced into the app's code in December and was later identified and fixed.
Phia is designed to help shoppers find better prices for clothing and accessories by comparing products across more than 40,000 online stores and resale platforms.
The company's business model relies on affiliate marketing, where it earns a commission from purchases completed through its referral links.
However, an investigation by Bloomberg in cooperation with Capital One Shopping and independent researcher Ben Edelman found that the browser extension allegedly opened a hidden window during checkout processes and inserted Phia's referral code automatically, without user interaction.
The practice is known as "cookie stuffing" or "attribution fraud", where an affiliate replaces another party's referral tracking information with its own in order to claim a commission. Such practices violate the policies of many affiliate marketing networks.
Affiliate platform Impact.com confirmed to Bloomberg that it had suspended Phia's account after detecting browser-extension behavior that did not comply with its affiliate program policies.
A Phia spokesperson acknowledged the issue, saying the company acted quickly after being notified.
"Within the past 24 hours, we were informed that a recent version of our code caused attribution errors for a segment of users. Once notified, our team worked overnight to identify, contain, and resolve the issue," the spokesperson said in a statement reported by Bloomberg.
The company added that it undergoes regular audits by affiliate network partners and has consistently worked to comply with industry policies. Researchers who retested the extension in July found that it had stopped automatically recording referral clicks.
Phoebe Gates launched Phia in April 2025 with former Stanford University classmate Sophia Kianni.
The startup experienced rapid growth, reaching the No. 21 position on the App Store shortly after launch and recording around 20,000 downloads in its first week. Downloads exceeded 370,000 within three months and surpassed 500,000 by September 2025.
The company raised $8 million in funding in September 2025, followed by a $35 million funding round in January 2026, valuing the startup at approximately $185 million only one year after launch.
Investors include prominent figures such as Kris Jenner, Hailey Bieber, SPANX founder Sara Blakely, Fanatics founder Michael Rubin, and former Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg.
The latest controversy follows earlier scrutiny over the company's privacy practices.
In November, a report by Fortune cited cybersecurity researchers who alleged that Phia's browser extension collected users' browsing activity, including visits to sensitive pages such as banking statements and private emails.
The company responded at the time that the extension only collected webpage content to identify new shopping sites and said it did not store users' personal or sensitive information.
Phia also noted that users agree during installation to permissions allowing the extension to "read and modify all data on all websites."
Phoebe Gates has also faced criticism related to perceptions surrounding her family's wealth.
Recently, content creator Casey Nicole Margies shared a screenshot of an Instagram direct message in which Gates offered early access to Phia in exchange for paid collaboration. Margies said the company described itself as a startup with a limited marketing budget and could not meet her requested compensation.
She later told the Daily Mail that describing the company as a "small startup" appeared questionable given the Gates family's significant wealth.
Phoebe Gates has maintained that she did not receive funding from her parents to launch the company and that Phia was built entirely through external investors.
In a previous interview, she said her goal was to build "a company that lasts for generations" and that it should not be defined by her family name or personal advantages.
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