🖕 Fuck PayPal

And fuck Linus Tech Tips for intentionally keeping quiet about this after they found out.

  • Jin
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    914 hours ago

    Why do I feel like mentioning the LTT was very personal?😂

    • @[email protected]OP
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      14 hours ago

      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.

      • Jin
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        -113 hours ago

        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.
  • @[email protected]
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    3119 hours ago

    Ever since it was explained that Mr. Beast only smiles with his mouth, I get skeeved out every time I see him.

    • @[email protected]
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      1117 hours ago

      Mr Beast literally shadow banned the word teeth from his YT comments. It’s hilarious.

      • @Otower
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        312 hours ago

        It’s a shame too, I really miss all the great tooth related discussions we used to have there.

  • @[email protected]
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    2521 hours ago

    Just open their privacy policy and done. They sell your browsing info, and you could stop it there

    • @[email protected]
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      2223 hours ago

      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.

      • @MutilationWave
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        120 hours ago

        You guys think Rakuten does the same? I have got so much money from them.

        • @[email protected]
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          720 hours ago

          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.

          • @[email protected]
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            219 hours ago

            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

            • @MutilationWave
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              13 hours ago

              I book my hotels for with them for generally 5%. It adds up.

    • @mightyfoolish
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      921 hours ago

      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.

  • @riodoro1
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    351 day ago

    If something advertises on youtube it’s a scam. Simple to remember really.

    • @[email protected]
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      23 hours ago

      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.

      • @riodoro1
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        921 hours ago

        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?

      • @buddascrayon
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        519 hours ago

        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.

    • @buddascrayon
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      819 hours ago

      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.

    • @Retro_unlimited
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      321 hours ago

      That’s why I did not buy an eco flow or jackary. Too many influencers was a turn off. I went with BLUETTI.

  • @aulin
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    22 hours ago

    Wait, when did Paypal buy Honey? 😳

      • @buddascrayon
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        519 hours ago

        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.

    • @[email protected]
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      4123 hours ago

      They didn’t hide it, but a huge portion of their audience doesn’t read the forums. A 10 minute video of Linus ranting about them would have opened this scandal to a wider audience years ago.

      • @Retro_unlimited
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        1021 hours ago

        Linus usually likes to rant about it on the WAN show then they usually make a clip for YouTube, but weird he didn’t do that for honey, maybe he didn’t know how far the scam went.

        • zqps
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          1620 hours ago

          As creator that makes some of their profits from affiliate links, I don’t see how that could be the case for him.

          Seems more likely they had a reason to avoid beef with PayPal.

      • @buddascrayon
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        419 hours ago

        There may have been non-disclosure agreements between Linus tech tips and PayPal Honey. They may have threatened to sue him if he went public. I’m assuming we’ll find out the details in the next few weeks.

    • Cethin
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      231 day ago

      Yeah, that not nothing but it isn’t far off. They have a massive platform. It deserved at least a video telling people about it.

    • @[email protected]
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      922 hours ago

      Some very vocal people on Lemmy just love hating on LTT. I don’t think this topic was worth them making a main channel video on, I think their forum post was good and I believe they even mentioned this functionality of Honey a few times on the WAN show. It wasn’t a secret, and anyone who cared to do in-depth research on a potential sponsor could have found out.

      • @sardaukar
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        419 hours ago

        And yet here’s the scandal being exposed TWO YEARS LATER. Yeah, LTT couldn’t possibly have handled this better… /s

        • @[email protected]
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          115 hours ago

          They told everyone and nobody cared, turns out people care if a YouTube video is made framing the same thing differently. Like yeah, Honey’s practice is bad for the creator industry, but is it bad enough to bring it back to the people who took their money? No, I don’t think so.I think this is more of an example of how easy it is to get the masses angry with a YouTube video than anything. It’s good that more people are going to move away from this information harvesting app, but I really feel like the reaction and hatred is overblown and, at least for the hatred towards creators, unwarranted.

          The way I see it, people still take money from predatory gambling sites, and if any creator deserves pushback, it’s them.

  • @TimeNaan
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    351 day ago

    Linus Tech Tips really is scum. Yet more proof of that.

    • @theherk
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      17 hours ago

      Same person that said ad blocking was the same as piracy.

      edit: People downvoting me like I disagreed with him. Just saying how he looks at it. I think it’s a bit of a false dichotomy but they are definitely similar.

      • @themakara
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        1621 hours ago

        Have you ever heard his full stance on the matter? Because he clearly stated that this is not a judgment against using it. Heck, he’s been open about having sailed the high seas himself and still doing so for media he physically owns.

        It’s just that gaining access to media while circumventing the payment (ads in this case) is basically piracy. Which is fair.

        Signed, A uBlock User

        • @[email protected]OP
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          -116 hours ago

          How much you want to bet he uses Ad block himself but it’s suddenly different when YOU do it on HIS content?

      • @[email protected]
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        19 hours ago

        It…is? You’re copying digital content without paying for it. I use uBlock but I don’t pretend to have the moral high ground.

        • @sardaukar
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          18 hours ago

          It’s… not? It’s protection against malware and profiling by shady companies.

      • @Whelks_chance
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        -118 hours ago

        It is. Taking from a service without paying for it, and actively avoiding the service making money via advertising is basically the same as watching a film without paying for it.

        Both ways, you consumed a service and the people providing it got nothing, but it cost them something to create and provide it.

    • Echo Dot
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      320 hours ago

      OP isn’t exactly giving you the full story there. I know for a fact I’ve seen a video on this. I remember thinking at the time “well duh”.

    • @galanthus
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      31 day ago

      It was a matter of time until the public found out about this. They couldn’t think in the long term, by not accepting a bit of backlash, exposing the scam they unknowingly participated in they only opened themselves up for more later.

      They are not only evil, they are stupid too, which is worse.

  • @[email protected]
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    161 day ago

    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”

    • @[email protected]
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      220 hours ago

      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.

  • @[email protected]
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    318 hours ago

    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.

  • @scarabic
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    319 hours ago

    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.

    • @[email protected]
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      118 hours ago

      The biggest issue that this video brings up is that businesses can filter out certain coupon codes if the discount is too high

  • @[email protected]
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    2 days ago

    I said it in another post: if you see a bunch of influencers all suddenly peddling the same stuff, stay away. All of them can be bought.

    • DreamButt
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      1122 days ago

      Or, just don’t trust ads period

      Do your own research

      • @[email protected]
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        822 hours ago

        Do your own research is the famous last coherent phrase of the QAnon crowd. Idk what the answer is but that phrase will forever make me uneasy.

        • @[email protected]
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          1022 hours ago

          How long are we going to let the far right keep stealing our words? It’s a proud respectable cryptocurrency term.

          • @AlphaAutist
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            521 hours ago

            Grifters all the way down then

        • DreamButt
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          320 hours ago

          It’s also something leftists famously tell each other ¯_(ツ)_/¯

      • @[email protected]
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        362 days ago

        Okay, all of these customer reviews loved this product!

        Weird how formulaic they sounded though.

        • DreamButt
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          423 hours ago

          Didn’t say anything about site reviews either :p

          But ya finding good sources can be hard

    • NullDrive
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      482 days ago

      Especially anything from Linus, they’re a very scummy group.

      • @Retro_unlimited
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        721 hours ago

        What annoys me the most is since his last drama, Linus HAS to be the face in every video now! Wtf it used to be a bunch of them took turns making videos, and it was fun seeing everyone work on different things. He has to be front and get all the attention, it just feels weird now.

      • @[email protected]
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        2 days ago

        Am I the only one who, upon seeing his videos for the first time, immediately thought he was an annoying little pinhead?

        Like, I’ve watched his channel(s) surge in popularity over the years, and this entire time I’ve just been wondering why, and the issues that have come out about his little empire since have only confirmed my initial prejudice.

        • @[email protected]
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          221 day ago

          Their entire video is an ad filled experience of shilling not only their sponsors but themselves. Incredibly obnoxious and cramming in every YouTube stereotype from begging for likes and subs to clickbait titles and then insisting they have to do it so they can have their cake and eat it makes them even more obnoxious than if they just did it without wanting to be forgiven for it.

          • @[email protected]
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            131 day ago

            It’s getting worse, I can’t remember who but I was watching a video just the other day and their ad segment was the fucking ltt ratchet driver. You know, the one they supposedly made because they were tired of the market and the low quality rip-offs all the companies were just trying to make profit off of (it’s a shitty plastic screwdriver for 70$, link to pic and it’s being sold at fucking walmart now). They sold it as such a heart string story in the beginning, it’s just another mini-wannabe corporation.

            I don’t particularly feel bad at this point for their continued reputation downfall and the people responsible. Everyone has their own personal story of their favorite company which has turned to complete shit (Blizzard is one of mine). They didn’t come out strong but doubled down corporate style when everything started. That’s fine, but anyone staying and putting up with the stressful workplace knows what they’ve gotten themselves into.

            • @[email protected]
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              723 hours ago

              That’s actually a very nice screwdriver. Nice ratchet screw drivers do cost that much. I have one, but given where LTT is these days as a company, I don’t recommend buying it.

              I would be very happy if creators were able to fund their operations off their own merch rather than outside advertising. That seems to be what Gamers Nexus does, or at least heading that way. What LTT does, though, is use it as an additional revenue source on top of their other advertising sources. Doing it right means resisting the urge to consume more and more, and LTT is not capable of that.

            • Echo Dot
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              20 hours ago

              Oh please attack them on actual grounds rather than a made-up nonsense. The screwdriver is actually decent product if you care about that sort of thing. No one’s getting scammed there, It’s an actual product that’s of relatively good quality.

              If you don’t care about screwdrivers then you’re probably not interested in the product anyway and if you are a frequent screwdriver user you probably understand why it’s a good product.

            • snooggums
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              523 hours ago

              I used to think the importance of leadership at the top of a company to be overblown since they succeed based on the work of all of the employees, but it is pretty amazing how fast a change to shitty leadership can run a successful company into the ground.

            • @[email protected]
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              422 hours ago

              I have a few gripes with LTT but the screwdriver is legit good. A bit overpriced because of the branding sure but definitely not a throwaway product

        • @[email protected]
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          219 hours ago

          I’m with you. I heard of him on Reddit forever ago and couldn’t get through a single video.

        • @toynbee
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          101 day ago

          Because of his name, I thought he was a pro-Linux channel. I was swiftly disappointed.

          • snooggums
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            1223 hours ago

            No, he’s pro blanket!

            • @toynbee
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              319 hours ago

              I have nothing clever to say here, so normally I’d let my upvote express my feelings, but that feels inadequate in this case. I just wanted to use my words to let you know that this comment amused me a great deal and to thank you.

          • Canadian_Cabinet
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            519 hours ago

            He once bricked his OS during a “run Linux for a week” challenge. He tried to do apt install steam or something and ignored a bunch of warnings. Of course he then bashed Linux because he didn’t pay attention

            • @toynbee
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              319 hours ago

              Yeah, I didn’t see that video, but I recall reading about it. Apparently the package manager warned him that something would be potentially destructive and he ignored the warning, then blamed Linux for it when it was destructive.

          • Echo Dot
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            120 hours ago

            I mean the easiest name so you can’t really go for him for that.

            • @toynbee
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              220 hours ago

              I’m not exactly sure what you’re saying here, so I apologize if I’m misinterpreting, but - while I have many potential complaints about Linus - I don’t blame him for his name resembling the word “Linux.”

        • @HornedMeatBeast
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          71 day ago

          I got that creepy feeling from him the first time I saw a video of him. Every photo of him I saw set off alarms. I’ve also never understood why anyone even likes the guy.

          This was years before all the issues came to light.

    • @[email protected]
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      312 days ago

      I have a built-in spidey sense that hates any product that gets peddled simultaneously by a bunch of YouTubers.

    • sunzu2
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      42 days ago

      They whore for corpos, that’s who pays them

      Some do good work but got to assume they are an enemy until proven otherwise.

  • @TommySoda
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    1942 days ago

    I never trusted Honey to begin with but this goes far deeper than I ever expected. I always wondered “yeah, but where do they get their money?” I always figured it was just a way to take people’s data and sell it to data brokers (which they probably also do, let’s be honest) but this is just blatant fraud. Stealing affiliate money from links and having companies pay them to purposefully give out worse coupon codes is just devious through and through. It’s basically free money and everybody else, whether influencer or consumer, get fucked over in the process.

    • Altima NEO
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      822 days ago

      Yeah I always wondered what the catch was? The CEO was always posting on Reddit trying to defend honey and how cool they were.

      Either way, I never trust any shopping deal plugins. The whole idea of them is sketchy.

      • Electric
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        242 days ago

        Only shopping plugin I use is the one that comes with Edge. Surprisingly good to track price history and find other sites selling the product. I considered some Chrome plugin that displays an Amazon product’s country of origin to avoid Chinesium but apparently it didn’t work well or something like that from reading the reviews. Had some attached rewards function for shopping with it, ick.

        • @[email protected]
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          101 day ago

          It’s funny how Edge got lambasted for it when they introduced that feature, but it’s legitimately super helpful and non-invasive.

          • Electric
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            219 hours ago

            I had no idea it was, I don’t keep up with browser news. I just wish they didn’t migrate to Chromium. It became my main browser for a brief period before that.

            I just used it randomly when I was working and doing some shopping for a computer in my downtime and decided to try out the feature. That and the AI are super good when combo’ed to shop smart. Managed to save $800 off a quality laptop.

        • @[email protected]
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          122 days ago

          There’s a good one for Amazon called Keepa that shows you the price history of the item. Helps a ton keeping prices in check during sales like Prime Day to see how much you are actually saving, if anything.

          Also nice to see how much you could potentially save if you just wait for the next sale or if there was already a price decrease. Often times it looks like I’m good buying without waiting for any sale as the sales only knocked off a few dollars, at most.

            • @[email protected]
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              22 days ago

              Nice! Thanks for the recommendation, I love having alternatives in case anything unexpectedly goes down.

          • Electric
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            22 days ago

            Thank you for the recommendation, looks neat. Tracking prices of different conditions is a nice touch. I’ll have to scrutinize it further when I make my next online purchases and chuck it into Edge as I made that my dedicated shopping browser.

      • @[email protected]
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        121 day ago

        https://keepa.com/#!

        I use this extension to get a general idea of whether a product usually goes for cheaper and whether or not to wait. Really conveniently on the Amazon page directly.

    • Electric
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      302 days ago

      I always assumed it was a combination of your guess and companies giving Honey special coupon codes so consumers are more eager to spend.

      “Hey Honey, we’ll give you 1% commission if you just host this HONEY5 coupon for 5% off.”

      That was my impression when I used it once. Wasn’t worth having an extension just for a slight discount. Love when a company doesn’t fulfill the service they advertise.

      • @dustyData
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        112 days ago

        But that would be an ethical business model, we can’t have that, this is PayPal and this is the internet. There’s no place for ethics in that combination.

    • @[email protected]
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      62 days ago

      everybody else, whether influencer or consumer, get fucked over in the process.

      Enshittification correctly defined.

    • @[email protected]
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      42 days ago

      Same. I never downloaded it or anything like it but I didn’t realize they were playing both sides. It’s fucked.