- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.ml
🖕 Fuck PayPal
And fuck Linus Tech Tips for intentionally keeping quiet about this after they found out.
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This isn’t anything new. Brave browser does this, ad hijacking is a common thing. Many companies have been doing this for years, why is it only coming up now?
The best time to burn down a poisonous tree was 20 years ago etc etc
Everybody: Fuck Peter Thiel, fuck Elon Musk, fuck Honey, Fuck PayPal
Everybody: unflinchingly using PayPal
Deleted my ebay account but very rarely will buy on it. I’ve yet to find a UK alternative.
I dunno, I stopped a while back, it wasn’t hard really. I’ve also heard that while they are usually fine with regular sums of money they are not to be trusted with large sums. Just word of mouth an I’ve got no proof but it put me off.
There are some examples of buyers exploiting the returns policy for expensive items. The buyer initiates a return of item but never sends it, gets item and refund.
Why do I feel like mentioning the LTT was very personal?😂
They’re one of the largest tech media companies and deliberately chose to sweep this under the rug instead of reporting on it. Then they took sponsorships from Karma, which is a competitor to Honey that does the exact same thing.
No, they are not one of largest tech media companies They have less than what 100 employees. Maybe you used the wrong term?
When did they learn about it? Where your proof?
- It’s the holidays and a lot of content of made awhile, I don’t expect them to make dedicated statement.
First of all, Lemmy has a lot of users for whom English is a second language. So maybe don’t be a jackass about correcting grammar.
Secondly, in case you happen to be in that group of people ‘largest media company’ in this context applies to their reach, and not to their actual size. They are ‘large’ because they have a large audience, generate a lot of revenue, and are worth a lot of money. LMG also comprises 10 different YouTube channels with maybe 10 billion views between them.
Look I’m not correcting grammar, I’m not native English speaker myself + I’m very dyslexic.
But when someone says the biggest tech media companies, you put them in same category as Disney, Apple and so on, which makes them very small.
Sometimes people exaggerate and if you point out what they said is inaccurate then they get mad you’re not addressing their main point.
People are going mad anyways, doesn’t really matter especially here on lemmy ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
People are putting the blame on creators, instead of PayPal/honey, when creators are the victims too. We don’t know the full story from LLT from their side if “deliberately chose to sweep this under the rug instead of reporting on it”
If I’m questioning it, I’m going to get negative feedback because the narrative is they are to blame because they are “big”.
seriously… did you watch the video?
https://youtu.be/vc4yL3YTwWk?t=785
Here. Here’s a link to the exact moment that entire chapter starts.
I watched it, but I’ll reserve my judgment until the next wan show because I don’t know if it has been mentioned before on an earlier show or how the problem has been interpret by staff.
… Ok well here’s the link to the moment (in the video you watched) where we have one **staff ** member giving an official response to how LTT interpreted the problem in a forum post on their website.
https://youtu.be/vc4yL3YTwWk?t=811
And here’s a link to their youtube channel where they talk about honey
https://www.youtube.com/@LinusTechTips/search?query=honey
You’ll notice. There isn’t one.
So for at least two years, they knew honey was stealing affiliate links and considered it a big enough problem to end their partnership, but did not consider it a big enough issue to make a video on it.
I dunno why you keep sending me a bunch of text and videos. I’m going to wait until the next wan show, so I can understand what really happened inside.
I’m down to listen to their response myself but as someone who tried really hard to explain away their last dumb controversy only to be proven wrong multiple times, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was just pure negligence. Actions speak louder than words and their actions have shown they’re a flawed company like any other despite what their conversations on WAN show would have you believe.
Fuck Honey/PayPal first and foremost, don’t get me wrong. But unless there were legal issues around it, we also can’t ignore it if the biggest tech YouTube channel found out about one of the biggest sponsors on YouTube being a scam, stopped working with them for that reason, but said absolutely nothing to anyone else.
When did they learn about it? Where your proof?
Watch the video.
I haven’t trusted LTT for about 5 years now.
Agreed. I remember enjoying their workshop videos a long time ago, but they can’t even be trusted for PC building info, much less anything else.
I deleted my PayPal account a couple of months ago already. Problem solved.
Can we make a version of this add-on that replaces the links with a choice of charity links?
Might as well do some good in the chaos of the internet.
I don’t really wanna watch a video… but how do you “steal” affiliate links or coupon codes?
If you are doing affiliate marketing for a company and they give you a coupon code for 10% off called GET10OFF and that code gets used, the affiliate marketer gets the sale no matter where they got that code from?
He says that when you click on an affiliate link, a cookie gets stored on your browser that lasts for 30 days, saying that the source should get the commission for your purchase. Honey has a popup in checkout, even when there are no codes, with a big “Got It” button to close the popup. Clicking the Got It button replaces the old cookie with a Honey cookie, giving the commission from your purchase to them instead of your source.
I’ve slept since I watched and am not great with tech, but iirc the link with the affiliate code when clicked takes you to the site. Then honey has a pop up that, when clicked, replaces the link with their own, swiping the commission. Hope that makes sense - most people likely would not catch it. The Linus tech tips was used as an example of even a tech channel with lots of employees taking quite a while to notice themselves, and even when they did, it wasn’t quite conclusive for some reason?
Another thing the video touched on is that honey would claim to search for coupons but often opt to show what the partnered companies want. So, could be there’s a coupon for 50% but they only show 10%.
Ah gotcha. So what I said about coupon codes would be valid, but affiliate links are different than the coupon codes. Also crazy they hide bigger discounts.
Edit: But I guess they could find a company offering a coupon code, then sign up themselves knowing it’s an option now, and then show that code instead.
I guess most people don’t have much knowledge about affiliate link URLs and how easily they can be rewritten to shift where the commission goes. I implemented SkimLinks on a hunch of websites so I’ve seen it before. Forum owners used to get upset about anyone posting product links in their comments because they night include an affiliate code. SkimLinks adds JavaScript to every page that rewrites those codes to the forum owner’s personal account. It will even insert an affiliate code into basic Amazon links that don’t have one. Once this came out, forums went a lot easier on Amazon links.
After seeing all this, the second I spot a browser extension that wants to get between me and Amazon, I immediately assume they will rewrite all the links for their own benefit. Otherwise what’s in it for them? This news isn’t much of a surprise.
The biggest issue that this video brings up is that businesses can filter out certain coupon codes if the discount is too high
Ever since it was explained that Mr. Beast only smiles with his mouth, I get skeeved out every time I see him.
Shit! You are right. Thats horrible. And explains why he freaks me out.
Mr. Beast is completely creepy.
His audience are largely children too
Oh… THAT’s what’s off!
Mr Beast literally shadow banned the word teeth from his YT comments. It’s hilarious.
It’s a shame too, I really miss all the great tooth related discussions we used to have there.
Just saw a video that the honey people are making another SCAM called PIE. They make an Ad blocker, then put their own ads. wtf.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/VTxnM3J0I0k?width=828&height=466
Just open their privacy policy and done. They sell your browsing info, and you could stop it there
Wait, when did Paypal buy Honey? 😳
2020 for $4 billion.
And Honey has always worked like this. So PayPal knew exactly what they were buying which explains the price tag. Paypal knew they were going to make their money back and then some.
I’m so proud I never consumed these guys shit
I never trust browser extensions outside of a select few. However, I have used Paypal quite a bit. I would think many of us have.
I avoid PayPal categorically
Was it all that surprising to you though?
By the time honey hit the scene we had been ten years into “sketchy Browser extension that monitors your browsing habits and injects ads”
I guess getting flogged by your favorite influencer ads a veneer of legitimacy for a lot of people.
I think what was truly surprising is that they were bought for 4 billion.That much money for… basically an out and out scam. Paypal is that sure that it’s:
-
entirely legal
-
Will never be stopped
-
will return on a 4 billion investment.
-
You guys think Rakuten does the same? I have got so much money from them.
Rakuten is up front about it. They force their affiliate links, then pay you part of their cut.
Honey forces their affiliate links in exchange for maybe finding you a discount code.
I also think Rakuten compensates me fairly. I take the payout in Amex points. Instead of money they give me 1 cent per point which I can leverage to a value of around 5 cpp through transfers
Honestly I thought all of this was common knowledge at this point, back when I used Honey (many years ago) I saw its affiliate code in the address bar and thought “huh, that’s how they make money”
I remember researching it a while ago when I was curious how they made money. If anything else, this just illustrated glee little research and care people have with their online information.
If something advertises on youtube it’s a scam. Simple to remember really.
This isn’t even remotely true. There are lots of advertisers and sponsors that aren’t scams. But unfortunately our consumer protection laws haven’t quite caught up to the digital marketplace. So there is a lot of room on the internet in general for scammy behavior.
As always, it’s buyer beware. As well as a big amount of content creator beware as well.
That’s why I did not buy an eco flow or jackary. Too many influencers was a turn off. I went with BLUETTI.
I don’t mind things that are an actual thing to buy. I want to research it first–you can get a better electric razor than Manscaped for not much more–but at least it’s clear how they make their money. Honey was obviously getting money from someone other than their users, and that’s an immediate red flag.
I and many other people naturally assumed that honey was getting their money from consumer data collection. Which is why I didn’t use the service myself. The surprise is the fact that the scam isn’t just consumer data collection but actually stealing commissions from content creators as well as using consumers as a gateway to stealing money from businesses that they have contracts with.
Yeah. PayPal bought a coupon browser extension for how much? If the only thing they do is save YOU money, how come they can afford a sponsored segment in a mr beast video?
