Trap More Flies With Honey
Honey, a free browser extension that automatically finds and applies discount codes, is being accused of defrauding its users and the online content creators who championed it.
That’s according to a YouTube tech investigator who goes by MegaLag. He alleges that the PayPal-owned Honey effectively steals the credit for online purchases by replacing attribution tags from influencer affiliate links with its own tags. This happens regardless of whether an end user receives a working discount code, which they often don’t.
How is Honey getting away with it? By taking advantage of last-click attribution. Because users click Honey’s discount code search widget after clicking the original affiliate link, Honey can claim the last click credit.
MegaLag plans to launch at least two more videos, but it looks like the damage has already been done. Since the first YouTube video went live on December 21, it’s received more than 17 million views – not to mention tons of YouTubers reacting with their own hot takes.
The investigation has also reportedly caused Honey to lose three million users and counting.
All Hail The Indie Agency
Big agencies want big clients.
When Omnicom and IPG merge, that newly conjoined mega holdco will be busy wooing the P&Gs and Coca-Colas of the world.
But where does that leave smaller and mid-size brands? Or, as Marilois Snowman, CEO of independent media planning and buying agency Mediastruction, refers to them: the “Forgotten Middle.”
Well, many in the middle are specifically turning away from the holdco cookie-cutter model and looking for indie agencies that have an eye for innovation and a more hands-on approach, Digiday reports.
In fact, the stage is set for independents to kill it in 2025, says David Dweck, SVP of paid media at indie digital marketing agency Wpromote.
Much of the business Wpromote wins away from holding companies are clients at the tail end of the Fortune 500 or even big brand subsidiaries, Dweck tells Digiday. They “come to us because they’re the red-headed stepchild in the room,” he says.
In other words, they don’t get good service from the holdcos and, frankly, they’re fed up with it. “The level of sophistication they need isn’t there because they’re getting the D team,” Dweck says.
Scale is great and all, but sometimes it’s better to be nimble.
Manufacturing Consent
The Secret Service has been using Babel Street’s location-tracking tool, Locate X, to aid investigations for years. It’s claimed it doesn’t need to secure a warrant to use Locate X because suspects previously provided consent for their location to be tracked.
Well, as it turns out, that’s not the case.
According to 404 Media, the Secret Service did nothing to verify whether those suspects had actually consented to location tracking.
In 2022, Sen. Ron Wyden emailed the Secret Service to ask what steps it had taken to check that the location data it bought was collected from consumers who realized their data would be shared with other third parties.
The Secret Service’s response? “None.”
Making matters worse, just last month the FTC banned Venntel, the company that provides the underlying location data set used by Locate X, from selling any sensitive location data. The FTC had found Venntel did not always obtain user consent prior to selling that data.
It’s yet another example that demonstrates how the provenance of consent can get lost when various third-parties trade data – and how even the basics of consumer privacy protection are ignored, even at the highest levels of government.
But Wait! There’s More!
President-elect Trump’s picks for the FCC and FTC have vowed to remove censorship online – a position in conflict with European regulators pushing for stricter moderation. [NYT]
Speaking of Trump, he’s asked the Supreme Court to stop a federal law banning TikTok from taking effect next month, despite previously supporting a ban of the app. [WSJ]
Meta’s vision for the future is filled with AI-generated users. [FT]
A consumer watchdog claims that air fryers manufactured by Aigostar and Xiaomi are harvesting user data, storing it on Chinese servers and sharing it with TikTok and Facebook. [ABC News]
More marketers disapprove of Omnicom acquiring IPG than approve of the deal. [Adweek]
Researchers find Google allows advertisers to target the sensitive keyword queries of cancer patients – and clinics promoting unproven treatments are taking advantage. [HKS Misinformation Review]
