Honey browser plugin controversy: Difference between revisions

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~~==Background:==~~

*[[Capital One]] faces a nearly identical lawsuit for the same practices. It appears as though this may be an “industry standard” predatory tactic that is more pervasive across coupon extensions en masse which may merit its own page. It may be the case that '''most''' coupon-searching browser extensions behave identically in this regard.

[[PayPal Honey|Honey]] is owned by [[PayPal]], which was recently featured in a few online investigations for its business practices. It is a tool that you can install in your [[wikipedia:Web_browser|web browser]] ([[Google Chrome]], [[Mozilla Firefox]], [[Microsoft Edge]], [[Safari]], etc.), and it claims to work by “searching the web” to find its user the best coupon code available for an item the user is shopping for online.

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Honey disrupts this practice by replacing an existing affiliate link with their own on the checkout page, whenever a customer interacts with the extension in search of coupons. It does this even when it is unable to find a coupon for the customer. When the customer makes their purchase, Honey takes credit for the sale and gets the commission.

The Honey extension was largely advertised by content creators on [[YouTube]] as well as other social-media platforms. Affiliate marketing can make up a significant portion of a content creator's revenue. Most of the influencers who promoted Honey were unaware of its practices and thus unknowingly promoted a browser extension that poaches their affiliate revenue. Estimates of "stolen" revenue are upwards of 5 million USD. The discovery of Honey's practices has led to a [[class action lawsuit|class-action ~~lawsuit~~]] ~~launched~~ by Wendover Productions.

The Honey extension was largely advertised by content creators on [[YouTube]] as well as other social-media platforms. Affiliate marketing can make up a significant portion of a content creator's revenue. Most of the influencers who promoted Honey were unaware of its practices and thus unknowingly promoted a browser extension that poaches their affiliate revenue. Estimates of "stolen" revenue are upwards of 5 million USD. The discovery of Honey's practices has led to the filing of two seperate [[class action lawsuit|class-action lawsuits]], first by Wendover Productions on 29 December, 2024, followed by Gamers Nexus on 03 January, 2025. Both lawsuits seek reperations for those affected by Honey's actions.

*''It is this practice in particular that has attracted legal attention, as several of Honey’s victims in this instance are or were attorneys who create content about legal controversies (such as LegalEagle and America’s Attorney). They have documented their view on the lawsuit here: https://honeylawsuit.com/''<!-- this is a very partisan source - we shouldn't be saying 'find out more' and then linking to one half of a lawsuit. Instead, try and find some media source which has a reasonable detail of reporting on the lawsuit.

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-==Background:==
-*[[Capital One]] faces a nearly identical lawsuit for the same practices. It appears as though this may be an “industry standard” predatory tactic that is more pervasive across coupon extensions en masse which may merit its own page. It may be the case that '''most''' coupon-searching browser extensions behave identically in this regard.
+<!-- Capital One faces a nearly identical lawsuit for the same practices. It appears as though this may be an “industry standard” predatory tactic that is more pervasive across coupon extensions en masse which may merit its own page. It may be the case that most coupon-searching browser extensions behave identically in this regard. -->
 [[PayPal Honey|Honey]] is owned by [[PayPal]], which was recently featured in a few online investigations for its business practices. It is a tool that you can install in your [[wikipedia:Web_browser|web browser]] ([[Google Chrome]], [[Mozilla Firefox]], [[Microsoft Edge]], [[Safari]], etc.), and it claims to work by “searching the web” to find its user the best coupon code available for an item the user is shopping for online.
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 Honey disrupts this practice by replacing an existing affiliate link with their own on the checkout page, whenever a customer interacts with the extension in search of coupons. It does this even when it is unable to find a coupon for the customer. When the customer makes their purchase, Honey takes credit for the sale and gets the commission.
-The Honey extension was largely advertised by content creators on [[YouTube]] as well as other social-media platforms. Affiliate marketing can make up a significant portion of a content creator's revenue. Most of the influencers who promoted Honey were unaware of its practices and thus unknowingly promoted a browser extension that poaches their affiliate revenue. Estimates of "stolen" revenue are upwards of 5 million USD. The discovery of Honey's practices has led to a [[class action lawsuit|class-action lawsuit]] launched by Wendover Productions.
+The Honey extension was largely advertised by content creators on [[YouTube]] as well as other social-media platforms. Affiliate marketing can make up a significant portion of a content creator's revenue. Most of the influencers who promoted Honey were unaware of its practices and thus unknowingly promoted a browser extension that poaches their affiliate revenue. Estimates of "stolen" revenue are upwards of 5 million USD. The discovery of Honey's practices has led to the filing of two seperate [[class action lawsuit|class-action lawsuits]], first by Wendover Productions on 29 December, 2024, followed by Gamers Nexus on 03 January, 2025. Both lawsuits seek reperations for those affected by Honey's actions.
 *''It is this practice in particular that has attracted legal attention, as several of Honey’s victims in this instance are or were attorneys who create content about legal controversies (such as LegalEagle and America’s Attorney). They have documented their view on the lawsuit here: https://honeylawsuit.com/''<!-- this is a very partisan source - we shouldn't be saying 'find out more' and then linking to one half of a lawsuit. Instead, try and find some media source which has a reasonable detail of reporting on the lawsuit.