Popular browser extension accused of scamming millions including YouTubers
One YouTuber conducted an investigation into it
A popular browser extension has been accused of scamming millions of people, including YouTubers.
Now one YouTuber has launched an investigation into the situation.
Honey is a popular extension for browsers and is owned by PayPal and has been accused by the YouTuber of misrepresenting itself to consumers.
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In a clip posted by MegaLag, the creator claimed that Honey has had misleading business practices that have hurt consumers, affiliates and businesses.
In the video description, it said: “Was Honey a legitimate money saving tool? Or just an affiliate marketing scam promoted by some of YouTube's biggest influencers?”
MegaLag went on to say: “Honey hasn’t just been scamming you, the consumer; they’ve also been stealing money from influencers, including the very ones they paid to promote their product.”
In a statement to UNILAD Tech, Honey said: “Honey is free to use and provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible. Honey helps merchants reduce cart abandonment and comparison shopping while increasing sales conversion. Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last-click attribution.”
According to Architectural Digest, more than eight million people use Honey.
MegaLag claimed: “Imagine being the influencers who promoted Honey, telling your audience—who, by the way, are the most likely to use your affiliate links—to download an app that poaches your affiliate sales. It’s crazy.”
According to the YouTuber, Honey has sponsored over 1,000 channels in making around 5,000 videos on the platforms that have seen a whopping 7.8 billion views
MegaLag added: “Honey is helping businesses prevent consumers from finding the best deals while pretending to do the opposite.”
The YouTuber claims that Honey will prioritize coupon codes from its partnering stores, even if there are better discounts elsewhere.
If true, this means that it will purposely hide discount codes of higher values.
Viewers took to the YouTube comment section to share their reactions and thoughts about the claims made by MegaLag.
One user wrote: “Now I'm proud of myself for being too lazy for those 2 clicks for years.”
Another said: “The fact that millions of people used it for years without ever noticing the scam makes me wonder how many other scams like this have gone unnoticed.”
And a third person joked: “Imagine half way through the video he says ‘let’s talk about honey, the sponsor of this video’.”
However, one user on Reddit did over a possible explanation as to why Honey doesn’t always find the best discounts.
They said: “There's actually a logical reason for this - the online codes that used to work across the board are now going personalized - stores don't want to do the big public discounts anymore because of tools like Honey eroding their margins.”
UNILAD Tech has contacted PayPal for a comment.