YouTuber finds popular browser extension Honey engaging in deceptive affiliate practices

YouTuber MegaLag has found some damning evidence against Honey, a popular browser extension promoted by a plethora of large creators such as Linus Tech Tips, MKBHD and MrBeast, and owned by PayPal. Its main sales pitch is that it helps you find the best coupon codes online. This doesn't seem to be the case, as some partner stores can instruct Honey to show only specific codes.

Using MegaLag's example as a yardstick, if a store offers up to a 30% discount on a particular product via one discount code and a 5% discount via another code, Honey will show you only the latter, thereby not doing what is sets out to do. To make matters worse, Honey actually ends up working against the creators that promoted it.

If you've used Honey before, you'd have noticed it usually pops up right before you check out. In the process of looking for discount codes, Honey stealthily replaces any affiliate cookie with its own, thereby denying a creator you support 100% of their affiliate income, even if you don't make the purchase immediately.

This video delves deeper into the details of how the scheme works, and we recommend that you watch it in full. It is part one of a three-part series. MegaLag says he has found more discrepancies with the service and plans to reveal them via subsequent videos.