Honey ‘scam’ allegedly duped influencers and shoppers

Recently, YouTuber MegaLag posted a 23-minute video with serious allegations against Honey, a free browser extension that claims to offer online shoppers the best coupon codes for their purchases. Honey, a subsidiary of PayPal, has also worked extensively with influencers and creators, sponsoring and running ads with their content.

“I hate to break it to you, but your favorite influencers sold you a lie,” MegaLag said. “Honey is a scam.”

MegaLag’s accusations include claims that Honey took affiliate revenue for herself from influencers who promoted certain products and that she had agreements with retailers to apply preferred discount codes. If true, this meant that both influencers and online shoppers who trusted Honey were duped.

MegaLag’s video, which has more than 14 million views as of January 1, has drawn praise from viewers for the investigation, as well as shock over Honey’s alleged tactics. Now YouTuber Marques Brownlee, who has partnered with Honey in the past, has his own video explaining the controversy.

“Obviously, if I had known about any of this, I would never have worked with Honey,” Brownlee said.

On December 29, lawyers representing content creators who partnered with Honey filed a class action against PayPalclaiming damages in excess of $5 million. Brownlee was not named as an actor.

A PayPal spokesperson noted the benefits of Honey in a statement to Law.comwho reported on the process.

“Honey is free to use and provides millions of shoppers with additional savings on their purchases whenever possible,” the spokesperson told Law.com. “Honey helps merchants reduce cart abandonment and comparison shopping while increasing sales conversion. Honey follows industry rules and practices, including last click attribution.”