I don’t know all of the technical details, but apparently they’ve been stealing from content creators for years. Honey was recently bought by Paypal, and now they’re being sued. LegalEagle explains it all here.
Never heard of it until a post here a couple / few days ago accusing it of being a scam.
Here’s the original video by MegaLag that outlines in detail how Honey has been ripping off the Youtubers it sponsors. Short version - it inserts its own referral code into every purchase you make from a browser running the extension, meaning they get the cut of the sale that the person who actually referred you would have gotten instead.
I’ve heard of it advertised on a couple of podcasts, and I know of at least one Youtuber who called them out awhile ago.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that Honey was doing something shady just because there was no real profit model for it, but I assumed it was doing some kind of ad share or promotion where it took a small cut. That it was actually grifting referrals right out from under websites offering promotional codes is so fundamentally corrupt that it is kind of shocking how long this took to come to light. But I’m sure everyone involved will be prosecuted and the internet service app industry will clean up its act this time, fursure, right?
It really seems like most if not all of these ‘services’ that are promoted primarily on podcasts or YouTube sponsorships are frauds, scams, or at best untrustworthy. WeWork, Robinhood, BetterHelp, FTX, Blue Apron, et cetera, to the point that you can kind of take it for granted that most of these companies promoting in this way are ripoffs.
Stranger
Yeah, I’ve long put the services that are pushed often in YouTube promotions in the same “gotta be a scam” category I put just about any product that is promoted incessantly. I haven’t been disappointed yet, and immediately put Honey in the same bin.
I’ve been using it for years. I have gotten a lot of good coupons from using it.
I could give a shit about content creators and affiliate links. I am a little crabby about them intentionally missing coupons, tho. But like, oh well.
I started using it when RetailMeNot got too ad laden to use. Honey saves me a click. I’ll switch to the next thing that comes along when Honey gets chased away.
At least I haven’t seen an ad read for Raid: Shadow Legends for like months now.
Huh, i actually care a lot about affiliate links, and try to use them when i get value from a website. It’s a tiny little way to pay for the service.
I’ve seen decent companies promoted on YouTube. I’m very happy with my Made In frying pan, although maybe i bought that before they invested heavily in YouTube ads. For that matter, i gather Blue apron has had financial difficulties, but i have friends who used it and were happy with it. And “new business doesn’t do well”<> “rip off”.
Honey Badger don’t care. Honey Badger don’t give a shite.
I think there’s a point to be made that most of the companies that buy sponsorships on Youtube aren’t the kind of things that, say, NBC would sell ad time to. Either because it’s a fringe product, or NSFW, or not reputable. Stuff like VPNs and kits for shaving your balls and microtransaction-laden mobile games with gambling mechanics and subpar earbuds being hawked by the guy most famous for having sex with a Kardashian on videotape.
New business that often fail include very ordinary things like restaurants. 
I’m sure that YouTube sponsorships are cheaper than Network TV ads, and attract a different type of product. But i don’t think that makes them automatically scams. Of course, i HAVE seen YouTube ads for scams, too. Although i never ran into an ad for “honey”.
I honestly can’t think of any that I’m clicking on. I don’t use IG and I don’t really watch YouTube videos that have me clicking through to anything so it’s just not a thing I’m actively doing or not doing.
I don’t click through YouTube videos. They aren’t usually set up for that. But i read review sites, and if the site is good, i try to click on their links.
(Also, what’s “ig”?)
Blue Apron was found to be delivering substandard food products (not as advertised) and had unsafe food handling processes. Not a scam per se but not what a reputable company—especially one promoting itself on being a more healthy alternative to take out—should aspire to.
“Honey” was promoted aggressively on podcasts to an almost ridiculous degree. Back when I listened to 538, they would pitch it 2-3 times on a 45 minute episode (along with WeWord, BetterHelp, Blue Bottle Coffee, et cetera).
Stranger
I think the main thing to take from it is to not assume a product/service is legitimate and provides as advertised just because it’s being promoted on a Youtube channel. But that doesn’t automatically mean it’s a scam or a poor product. Some are, some are just new businesses that get out over their skis too far, some are perfectly reputable niche companies. There’s no value in Corsair advertising CPU coolers on NBC and it makes more sense to market a VPN to people already on the internet than to a bunch of people during 60 Minutes. Do your research and don’t forget that the YouTube channel is just saying what they’re getting paid to say instead of swigging gallons of Air Up scented water daily.
And being on network television is no guarantee of quality anyway. Anyone remember all those Hollywood celebrities during the Super Bowl telling us how awesome FTX crypto was?
I did buy a set of car floor mats through a YouTube sponsorship spot that I’m very happy with so that’s something.
Edit: the Blue Apron talk reminds me of a guy I know with some pretty minor Twitch channel and he still had Hello Fresh sniffing around his door for a sponsorship. That feels sketchy as heck to me off the bat that they’re hungry to get involved with a guy who has maybe 20-50 viewers and making all sorts of juicy offers for him start hawking how great Hello Fresh is on his channel.
Entirely apart from stealing from content creators, another part of the Honey scam is that it claims to collect coupon codes from all sources and offer users of the extension the best possible deals.
Guess what: that’s a lie.
They allow advertisers (for a fee, of course) to control which of their coupons users will see, so they can make sure you (the user) only see the 5%-discount coupon, not the 20% one.
So the Honey business model is:
- Lie to the end users
- Steal from the content creators
- Run a protection racket on the advertisers
Instagram, I believe.
My turn: what’s a browser extension?
Thank you. I’m lost in this thread. I was told in the mid-90s never to click on an advertisement link on the internet, and I don’t think I ever have.
Youtubers LegalEagle and Wendover Productions have files a class action lawsuit against Honey (PayPal) over this issue:
