Late last year, a YouTube video uncovering the shady affiliate tactics of PayPal’s coupon Chrome extension, Honey, went viral.
The 23-minute video by YouTube creator MegaLag received more than 17 million views and spurred lawsuits against PayPal from YouTubers like Legal Eagle and GamersNexus.
As a result of the Honey expose, Google has now changed its Chrome extension policies concerning affiliate ads and marketing.
What is Honey?
First, as a refresher, Honey is a Chrome extension from PayPal that alerts users when it detects a coupon code relevant to their current e-commerce shopping cart. In exchange for providing the user with this coupon code, Honey enables PayPal’s affiliate link on the user’s computer so that PayPal receives credit for the customer’s purchase. PayPal receives monetary compensation for every purchase made through their affiliate link from the e-commerce store.
However, it appears that many Honey users were unaware of how the Chrome extension worked. MegaLag’s video also …