I am sure you have used or are currently using this add-on Delete it because it has deceived everyone
For years, it has been the most used Chrome extension to get discounts on products from hundreds of online stores. As of today, according to the Google Chrome Extensions Store, it has over 19 million users and a 4.8-star rating out of 5 thanks to nearly 170,000 reviews. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything to worry about.
But, as always, if something seems too good to be true, it probably has something to hide. That’s the case with Honey, a popular browser extension whose main purpose is to scour the internet for coupons that allow users to save a few bucks on their online purchases.
Now, the YouTuber behind MegaLag has discovered malicious practices through a thorough examination of how the extension works. Practices that (mostly) did not affect the end user, but rather the content creators and influencers who promoted it on their channels.
Some of the most popular YouTube channels have promoted the add-on.
Many of the world’s biggest YouTubers, including Mr. Beast and Marques Brownlee, have partnered with Honey to promote the add-on in their videos. On the other hand, there’s something not entirely surprising, as we shouldn’t forget that PayPal itself has been the owner of Honey for several years now.
What none of them imagined was that this add-on they were promoting in their videos would end up stealing their profits.
To understand what a scam is, you first need to understand how honey works. Once installed in your browser, the extension detects when a user is ready to make a purchase from a website and crawls different websites looking for proven discount coupons. If available, it will display them to the user so they can save a few dollars on their purchase.
Some Honey users ended up installing the extension after seeing it promoted in videos of their favorite YouTube channels or content creators. And here’s the first problem.
According to the research, when a user went to purchase a product recommended by a creator, the extension modified the link to include their cookie. The cookies allowed the creators to earn a commission for every purchase of the products they recommended. The commission ultimately went to the company behind Honey since the extension removed any trace of the YouTuber’s cookie that promoted it.
Unfortunately, that’s not all. The YouTuber above also discovered other malicious practices when examining the extension’s operation. Apparently, Honey could also be hiding the best discounts from users due to agreements with certain companies, with the goal of ultimately making the consumer pay more for a product that could actually be obtained at a cheaper price.
At the moment, PayPal, which owns the extension, has not commented on the YouTuber’s findings, and the only action the company has taken so far has been to block new posts on its official forum, due to the wave of criticism from users. For his part, one of the affected content creators, Austin Evans, has previously spoken out about the consequences of his agreement with Honey.