Leaked Slack messages show Phia co-founders knew about cookie stuffing months before public denial

Bloomberg's August 11 investigation, citing leaked Slack messages, reports that Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni knew about the shopping app's cookie stuffing as far back as December 2025. Bloomberg also found the practice was a purposefully built, toggleable feature — not the "bug" a Phia spokesperson described in July.