# Phia

Type: Company

Source: Retail Intelligence Brief — https://getretailbrief.com/entity/phia
Canonical HTML page: https://getretailbrief.com/entity/phia

## Timeline

- **2026-08-11**: Slack messages contradict Phia — Bloomberg reports internal Slack messages and source code showing Gates and Kianni knew about the practice for months, contradicting the company's earlier timeline.
- **2026-07**: Bloomberg first reports cookie stuffing — Phia's browser extension is found auto-inserting affiliate cookies; Phia says it discovered the issue within 24 hours and calls it a software bug; features are disabled and daily revenue drops.
- **2025-12**: Early knowledge surfaces in Slack — Gates reportedly asks developers in a Slack exchange to ensure automatic cookie drops work across retailers so Phia can monetize 'every transaction.'

## Recent coverage (1 stories)

### Phia's daily revenue fell 87% after cookie-stuffing halt
2026-08-16 02:04:05 · Sentiment: Neutral · Impact: 5/10 · Sources: 3

Bloomberg's follow-up report alleges Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni knowingly ran a cookie-stuffing scheme that claimed affiliate commissions on sales their shopping extension never influenced. The startup's daily revenue reportedly collapsed from $80,000 to as little as $10,000 once the practice was halted — a warning shot for every retailer and affiliate network paying for attribution they cannot verify.
Full story: https://getretailbrief.com/story/phia-cookie-stuffing-affiliate-fraud-retail

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