Billionaire Bill Gates' daughter Phoebe Gates and Phia co-founder Sophia Kianni reportedly pushed for features that could cause the shopping startup to claim affiliate commissions on sales it did not drive.
The founders "were aware" of the cookie stuffing practice since December, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people from the startup and messages posted on the company’s internal Slack channels.
Notably, the timeline contradicts a statement by Kianni and Gates to the publication on July 8 that they had only learned about the situation "within the last 24 hours" and blamed it on a software bug.
Read Also: Bill Gates' Daughter Wants Startup Phia to Stand Apart From Her Famous Last Name What is Cookie Stuffing?
Phia is positioned as a "personal shopping assistant" helping users to discover the lowest prices on a wide range of apparel and fashion accessories.
