Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni reportedly knew Phia was ‘cookie stuffing’ for months

Dominic-Madori Davis· Aug 11, 2026 · 9:39 PM UTC ·3 min read · 0 reactions · 0 comments · 4 views

#phoebe #gates #sophia #kianni #reportedly

TL;DR · WeSearch summary

Phia, the shopping startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, is once again under fire for its alleged business practices. It’s a controversial practice that can get startups sued, mainly because it’s seen as taking referral revenue away from other affiliate marketers. The outlet also gained insight into the affected retailers, including Nike and Nordstrom.

Key facts

▪Phia, the shopping startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, is once again under fire for its alleged business practices.
▪It’s a controversial practice that can get startups sued, mainly because it’s seen as taking referral revenue away from other affiliate marketers.
▪The outlet also gained insight into the affected retailers, including Nike and Nordstrom.

How this story was covered

2 outlets in our directory ran this story, first to last over 6 hours. All of the coverage we found sits in one bucket: centre. That one-sidedness is itself worth noticing.

Centre · 1

▪ Sources: Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni pushed for and were aware for seven months of using "cookie stuffing" to claim affiliate commissions (Bloomberg) — Techmeme

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Original publisher	TechCrunch
Canonical URL	https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/11/phoebe-gates-and-sophia-kianni-reportedly-knew-phia-was-cookie-stuffing-for-months/
Publication time	Tue, 11 Aug 2026 21:39:58 +0000
Retrieval time	2026-08-11T21:40:42.612Z
Last seen	2026-08-11T21:40:42.612Z
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand

Phia, the shopping startup co-founded by Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni, is once again under fire for its alleged business practices. The latest issue stems from earlier this year when Bloomberg published an investigation that mapped out how Phia was taking credit and commission for affiliate purchases it did not help to generate, known as cookie stuffing. It’s a controversial practice that can get startups sued, mainly because it’s seen as taking referral revenue away from other affiliate marketers. Usually, when affiliate platforms like Phia sign on to work in a marketplace, they sign a contract stating that cookie stuffing is banned because it’s unfair.

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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechCrunch.

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