[tanduv]

If I understood MegaLag's video correctly, Honey was indeed overriding an affiliate session cookie with their own once the user the reached the checkout. The extension would silently open a tab in the background, which seems pretty scummy. I've observed the same background tab shenanigans with the Capital One extension as well.

[twostorytower]

They do this to not interrupt the purchase flow, not to be scummy. Opening a tab in the foreground or refreshing the page is extremely annoying to users and merchants request it to be in the background so it doesn't hurt their conversion.

I never said Honey doesn't override cookies. I'm not saying this isn't a problem, it's just not a Honey-specific problem. If the affiliate networks used first-click or multi-click attribution, none of this would be an issue.

[kelseydh]

Cookie stuffing to steal affiliate attribution is fraud. People have gone to prison for doing what Honey does: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdal/pr/cookie-stuffing-interne...

https://www.businessinsider.com/shawn-hogan-sentenced-in-eba...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cookie_stuffing

[drawkward]

Stop justifying Honey's scumminess.