Phoebe Gates’ AI Shopping Tool, Phia, Allegedly Accused of Fraudulent Affiliate Sales via Fake Clicks
Phoebe Gates, the daughter of Bill Gates, co-founded the shopping application Phia with Sophia Kianni.
Recent investigations indicate that the AI-driven shopping tool Phia engaged in a practice known as cookie stuffing, which allowed it to link its affiliate code to sales it didn’t actually facilitate. Launched last spring, Phia was brought to life by Phoebe Gates, daughter of Bill Gates, and Sophia Kianni. Extensive research conducted by analyst Ben Edelman, along with reports from Bloomberg and Capital One Shopping, uncovered instances where the browser extension falsely claimed referrals through deceptive clicks and took credit for commissions that should have belonged to other publishers.
Edelman provided an in-depth analysis of how the process worked, including a video that demonstrated how Phia’s “affiliate link” was covertly activated in a separate tab on iOS after a user visited a merchant’s site. This analysis is certainly worth a look.
Phia has attributed the issues discovered in these investigations to a software bug. In a statement to Bloomberg, a company representative mentioned, “We were recently informed that a new update caused misattributions for a small group of users. Once we were alerted, our team worked overnight to find, address, and resolve the issue.” This particular feature, which allowed these complications to arise, was reportedly released in December 2025.
