Affiliate marketing practices within Chrome extensions have come under scrutiny following accusations against the popular Honey extension, owned by PayPal. Content creators alleged that Honey was manipulating affiliate links, impacting their revenue. Google has responded by updating its Chrome Web Store policy to explicitly prohibit such practices.
The controversy surrounding Honey ignited in December 2024 when several YouTubers raised concerns, labeling the extension a potential scam. While Honey advertised its ability to automatically find and apply discount codes for users during online shopping, accusations arose that the extension was injecting its own affiliate links into user purchases without their consent. This action potentially diverted revenue away from content creators who rely on affiliate marketing, ironically impacting some of the same tech influencers who had previously promoted Honey.
Google’s revised Chrome extension policy now clearly states that “affiliate links, codes, or cookies must only be included when the extension provides a direct and transparent user benefit related to the extension’s core functionality. It is not permitted to inject affiliate links without related user action and without providing a tangible benefit to users.”
To further clarify its stance, Google provided specific examples of prohibited practices. These include: modifying shopping-related cookies without user consent while browsing shopping sites, adding or replacing affiliate codes in URLs without explicit user knowledge or action, and applying or altering affiliate promo codes without the user’s explicit consent or related action.
Despite these policy updates, the Honey extension remains available on the Chrome Web Store as of this writing. It’s unclear whether Honey has modified its extension to comply with the new guidelines or if further action will be required to maintain its presence on the platform.
