Leaked Slack messages contradict Phia co-founders' cookie stuffing denial

Bloomberg's August 11 investigation, citing leaked Slack messages, reports Phia co-founders Phoebe Gates and Sophia Kianni knew about the shopping app's cookie stuffing — a tactic that hijacks affiliate commissions by inserting tracking cookies without user action — as far back as December 2025. Bloomberg also found it was a purposefully built, toggleable feature, not the "bug" a Phia spokesperson described in July.