Phoebe Gates Knew Phia App Took Credit For Sales It Didn’t Drive

Phoebe Gates, co-founder of the shopping app Phia, was aware that the company's software falsely claimed credit for sales it did not generate, internal communications revealed. The practice, known as "cookie stuffing," had been in place for at least seven months, according to messages from the company's internal Slack channels, contradicting the company's claim of discovering it only within the last 24 hours.

Phia, marketed as a personal shopping assistant, earned commissions by driving sales, but the extension used to facilitate these sales also reported sales inaccurately, resulting in inflated commissions for the company. This issue affected sales at major retailers like Nike, Gap, and Nordstrom. Despite promising to remove the problematic features and reverse commissions, the revenue decline from the disabling of these features was significant. An independent expert reviewed Phia's code and confirmed the extent of the deceptive practices.