Written by Brook Schaaf

My last blurb of 2024 expressed my hope that Amazon’s policy change that harmed seller networks would be the year’s “Final Wallop.” This turned out to be ironic foreshadowing (as Mike McNerney wryly noted in his newsletter) because, three days later, popular YouTuber MegaLag posted a video hit job against the popular browser extension Honey. 

The “Exposing the Honey Influencer Scam” video exploded in popularity, with almost 16 million views and 67,000 comments as of this writing and dozens of follow-up videos, including one that announced a lawsuit. This also prompted much commentary in and adjacent to affiliate.

There is too much to cover in this short piece so I’ll focus on three critical points: first, love them or hate them, Honey did nothing wrong; second, like it or not, the affiliate channel needs to collectively address this situation; and third, there may be a silver lining.

MegaLag accuses Honey of “stealing money from influencers,” then describes a scenario in which a user watches an influencer video, visits an advertiser through an affiliate link, then clicks on the browser extension to apply coupons only to see (or, in this case, not see) the influencer’s tracking cookie overwritten. He says he can’t see that this is “anything short of fraud.” In a follow-up video, YouTuber Theo Rants claims Honey is “100% violating these [affiliate network] policies.” As far as I am aware, both they and the many other commentators I read and viewed are 100% wrong.

First, Honey appears to be in compliance with network standards, requiring an affirmative download and individual clicks by consumers. There is a fair discussion to be had around other criticisms MegaLag makes, including click enticement when there are no coupons, concealing available coupons, and reward redemption value, but none of these violate network terms. Of course, I am not a compliance agent, so I could be incorrect, but no such evidence was provided.

Second, it should not be overlooked that Honey, famously, has not now or ever had a relationship with Amazon Associates, which is where most influencer traffic probably goes. If they did, Amazon probably wouldn’t have attacked Honey as malware four years ago (TheoRants references this attack but bizarrely spins it into proof of a “special deal”). Again, I could be incorrect, but it would contradict many years of conventional wisdom – not to mention common sense.

Third, from Amazon on down, most merchant programs actually do not work with browser extensions. According to FMTC’s program directory, out of 20,674 programs, only 1,401 explicitly allow browser extensions (12,485 explicitly disallow them). No relationship means no credit means no commission. Moreover, none of these influencers even seem to be aware that all major tracking platforms allow rules-based commissioning that can disqualify last-second clicks.

Now, if you are a detractor of browser extensions, you may wonder why any merchant program works with them. A few considerations: CJ’s Data Science case study found higher conversion rates, higher revenue yields, and higher basket sizes – no surprise here because browser extensions reduce friction and calm the customer. They can also introduce new customers, especially from competitors. Keep in mind, as the merchant, if you have no relationship, you have little to no leverage. My hope is that the too-often-adversarial relationship between merchant and browser extensions can evolve into a collaborative one.

This takes us to the necessary industry response. I say necessary because multiple stakeholder groups must trust the players in the channel, foremost among them customers, affiliates, and advertisers. Without this trust, activity and transactions will be diminished. Thus, we need clear rules and proper enforcement. This can start with awareness. As I wrote early last month, networks should provide merchants’ tracking configuration in their API calls. This way, an influencer or other affiliate would know they’ll get credit when they expect it and all affiliate marketers can drown in our eternal sea of attribution a little less often.

And this may be the silver lining. Influencer attentiveness to commission earnings indicates it’s something important for them and a basis on which the channel can grow, assuming we can get past these bad feelings to a place of greater trust.

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