{
  "id": 723713,
  "title": "What is cookie stuffing? The 20-year jail term charge now shadowing Bill Gates' daughter's startup",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/13/what-is-cookie-stuffing-the-20-year-jail-term-charge-now-shadowing",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-13T02:11:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Live Mint",
    "slug": "live-mint",
    "url": "https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/what-is-cookie-stuffing-the-20-year-jail-term-charge-now-shadowing-bill-gates-daughters-startup-11786585815729.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Phoebe Gates, 23-year-old daughter of Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, is accused of cookie stuffing at her startup Phia. Cookie stuffing is a deceptive practice where a third party plants tracking files on a website without the user's knowledge, claiming credit for sales they did not generate. This alleged practice at Phia could result in a 20-year prison sentence if found guilty. Phia, co-founded by Phoebe and Sophia Kianni, operates as a browser extension that finds discount codes for online shoppers. When a shopper uses one of Phia's coupon codes at checkout, the software drops a cookie tracking file, earning Phia a commission from the retailer. Phia only discovered the issue within the last 24 hours, calling it a glitch, but reports suggest the founders knew about the problem for at least seven months. The issue involved cookies being dropped into the checkout flow even when shoppers hadn't used Phia, affecting retailers like Nike, Gap, and Nordstrom. This accounted for the majority of Phia's revenue, with cookie stuffing comprising 51% of merchandise value claimed by the startup in June. Phia switched off the feature in July, causing its average daily revenue to drop from $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000. Phia's co-founder Phoebe Gates expressed concern that the startup was not earning enough commission from Etsy. Management allegedly debated whether to drop a cookie whenever a user dismissed a Phia pop-up, but Google Chrome bars this method. Phia denied implementing the feature, stating they removed the problematic code over a month ago and are reviewing all transactions for misattributions. Affiliate network Impact.com has suspended Phia and reallocated its commissions. Phia raised $30 million in 2025 from investors including Hailey Bieber, Kris Jenner, and Sara Blakely.",
  "summary": "Phia, the shopping app co-founded by Phoebe Gates, called it a software glitch in July. A Bloomberg investigation now says the company knew for at least seven months that it was claiming commissions on sales it never drove — a practice lawyers say US courts treat as federal wire fraud.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}