Shopping App Fia Faces Accusations of Fraudulent Sales Claims
A startup named Fia Inc., co-founded by Phoebe Gates, the youngest daughter of Bill Gates, is under scrutiny for allegedly taking credit for online sales it did not contribute to, following an investigation by various organizations and independent researchers.
Bloomberg reported that a browser extension created by Phia was found to violate the policies of multiple digital platforms by charging fees for sales it had no part in generating. The company promotes itself as a personal shopping assistant, designed to help users snag the best deals on clothing and accessories.
Ben Edelman, an expert in affiliate marketing, pointed out that Fia, along with a rival extension from Capital One Shopping, engaged in practices that contravene many digital platforms’ rules. In tests conducted by Bloomberg across more than 50 websites, it was discovered that Fia’s extension opened background tabs during checkout and injected its own referral codes, overriding other legitimate publisher referrals without user interaction.
Bloomberg’s findings align with independent tests carried out by both Capital One Shopping and Edelman himself. Their methods included using the extension as an ordinary shopper would, monitoring how it interacted with various websites and servers.
Edelman highlighted the key issue with Fia’s method: “In affiliate marketing, you should only earn a commission if a user legitimately clicks. There’s no room for fake or simulated clicks.”
Capital One Shopping also reached out to retailers, noting that its own tests echoed similar concerns about Fia’s supposed fake clicks and cookie stuffing. They included a video showing the extension silently launching background tabs and linking to retailers’ sites with unique affiliate codes to ensure cookies were set. “Publishers like us are missing out on vital revenue,” the email asserted, adding that advertisers might be losing money due to these inauthentic clicks.
A spokesperson for Fia admitted the issue existed but claimed it has been addressed. “We realized our codebase was causing incorrect attribution for some users with recent updates. Once we were made aware, we worked overnight to identify and fix the problem,” they stated.
After contacting Fia on July 7, Bloomberg confirmed that it had re-evaluated the extension and ceased automatic billing for referral clicks in cases affected. Fia mentioned that it regularly undergoes audits by its network partners and maintains compliance at all times. The code enabling automatic clicks was reportedly added in December.
This practice goes against industry guidelines that prohibit cookie stuffing and claiming credit for sales attributed to other referrals. These rules are outlined in the terms of service for major retailers such as eBay and Walmart, as well as with significant affiliate networks like Impact.com. Impact.com has since suspended Fia’s account for the behavior noted in its extension and is collaborating with the startup to determine the underlying issues while examining potentially affected transactions.
Founded in 2025 by the 23-year-old Phoebe Gates and her friend Sofia Chiani, Fia has attracted $43.5 million in investments from several notable backers, including Notable Capital and Kleiner Perkins, along with celebrity investors like Sidney Sweeney and Khloé Kardashian. Notably, former Meta COO Sheryl Sandberg is also among the investors.
According to Appfigures, Fia’s app has been downloaded over 1.2 million times in the past year. It is promoted as a personal shopping assistant, enabling users to compare prices and search for discount codes usable at checkout.
In a week-long evaluation in late June, Bloomberg noted that the extension automatically opened background tabs as users approached the final step of purchases, loading a Phia affiliate link and setting a cookie, with the tabs closing shortly after. This behavior was exclusive to mobile browsers, which means users might not even notice the extra tabs opening.
This method occurred whether a consumer directly purchased from a retailer’s website or was referred through another link. In one instance, clicking a link to Nordstrom in a Wirecutter article activated a background tab that replaced Wirecutter’s affiliate link with one from Fia. A similar occurrence took place when Bloomberg clicked on a Google ad from a different publisher’s website.
Bloomberg’s assessments showed that Phia opened background tabs across more than six prominent affiliate networks, including Impact.com and CJ Affiliate, a practice expressly forbidden by the terms of service for each. This behavior was also observed on over 50 major retail sites, including Walmart and Nike.
This isn’t the first time Fia has faced controversy. Last year, security experts uncovered that Phia was recording users’ browsing histories, including sensitive data like bank statements and personal email accounts. Fia later claimed these actions were intended to log website content for better identification of shopping-related sites and retailers. After being notified by security researchers, the company ceased capturing actual content, opting to log URLs instead.
Recently, Gates made the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, although social media users quickly pointed out the list’s mixed reputation, mentioning numerous past members’ involvement in dubious business practices.
