Is Honey A Complete Scam...?

[@TheLindenbeat]

I should make a bingo card for youtube sponsors and cross them each time they end up being a scam.

[@OlandoWilson-te7ie]

Ok

[@Haughty-yt]

Be sure to count LastPass

[@JonneBackhaus]

So bingo speedrun any % comming up

[@Dyjsong]

I'ma make another bingo card "sponsors of LTT that ended up being a scam"

[@cooldude-qz1gf]

Look for each one that seems too good to be true and then just put it on there even if there isn’t a scandal with them (yet)

[@scoobertdoobert1774]

Honey has never once given me a coupon that actually worked

[@jameslikesit]

I used to get a couple here and there like a year ago...but I swear the few times it actually pops up when I shop lately, it does fuck all lol

[@NotsoHardcore1]

Same I uninstalled after a month. This doesn't surprise me.

[@MatthewLitwiz]

same, after like 3 days of honey keep on popping up on top right I got annoyed and deleted it

[@masteroutlaw100]

It hasn't worked for me since 2021

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

I installed it and uninstalled it during the same day a few years ago for that reason

[@john_toss]

Those Mr Beast Honey ads were inescapable at one point

[@chrisalex82]

Funny cuz when taht one guy (avocado anim.) made an animation with an evil mrbeast, there was a fake honey sponsor lmao Bro knew 💀

[@bradydicarlo9143]

I remember getting those. I think Nostalgia Critic was sponsored by them also.

[@Obieden1]

just what i was going to say as well

[@JoeyAnimate]

@@bradydicarlo9143oh yeah I remember that one from the wall video that became a meme online.

[@Davidiscrazy]

Oddly enough if is to be true. Mr beast technically didn’t make as much money as he was supposed too. Also I was expecting Charlie to tell us how much money he was making from his commission but he never said anything. Which is the only flaw with this is the fact that if the website is designed to rob creators of their commissions then what was the money they were making? They couldn’t have been making nothing. It’s really the only question that needs to be answered.

[@mochipoppins]

Honey is a PayPal company. This should be noted prominently. PayPal has always played and supported dirty tactics like this. It's how they got so big and controlling.

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

Honey wasn't a Paypal company until the owner sold Honey for $4 in 2020. Honey was originally just a little forum of deal hunters and the owner sold out.

[@LaEmporoar]

@@Robbie-mw5uu i highly doubt he sold Honey for $4

[@RMalsawmtluanga]

Really 4 dollars 😂

[@BuryTheLight-tds]

​@@LaEmporoarIt was actually *4 billion* 😂

[@elenabob4953]

Ahh but that's NOT all. The same team that sold Honey for 20 billions to Paypal is proposing now the newest scam "PIE" extension that will show you only what commercials you want and they will give you some money for that. More details on Upper Echelon channel, the video is called "Exposing the"PIE" Influencer Disaster.

[@kibble-net]

This is basically what some MLM companies did back in the day. Built a company off the backs of a network of promoters, then realized they could just keep all the profits for themselves. KZbin sponsorships are the new snake oil.

[@k_469]

it always was

[@Gatekeeper201]

@@k_469 No, it wasn’t. There are legitmate KZbin sponsorships. I’ve used one. Problem is, the KZbin landscape is ripe for abuse from predatory companies. This just happens to be the most recent one and likely to be the biggest. It doesn’t mean the entire field is a scam, just that buying from a sponsored ad is a caluclated risk.

[@MINETURNNOWGamingRblxOnYT]

It's actually genius in an evil genius way how they pulled it off. They screwed everyone over, the costumer, the influencer and even the seller.

[@ashi133]

wait until you guys find out about how they track you lol none of this was secret btw, people just dont understand how stuff works and dont bother reading the TOSs they're agreeing to

[@Jwellsuhhuh]

I’m genuinely surprised no merchant website has noticed or cared about this yet. Websites earn less money when more of their sales are affiliate sales. Wouldn’t they notice that this “honey” affiliate takes a massive amount of commission compared to all their other affiliates? Or does every website just assume that honey is in the g and that it’s driving more sales that make up for the higher % of total affiliate sales on their platform

[@boltez6507]

Nothing evil genius,they just built an easy to make product to take advantage of tech naive people.

[@boltez6507]

​​@@Jwellsuhhuhyou don't get how these stuff work,honey ain't no evil genius, discounts help convert a large number of potential buyers into actual ones,big companies aren't stupid. People who use such extensions are usually price sensitive ones and hence the so called discounts help convert a larger group of them. Honey took advantage of people unaware of the amount of money affiliates (%of order cost) get for each sale..it varies between 3-10%.. smaller individual affiliates like myself offer upto 50-60% cashback to buyers.

[@idib1739]

Starting with their name ...

[@greenus1737]

I thought honey made money by selling user data by stealing a person’s info on the screen. But the fact honey yoinks everyone’s affiliate commission is even worse.

[@markBalentine123567]

yes you are referring to data brokers companies yes Honey stole the money and the information to third party companies known as data brokers Data brokers are companies that collect and sell personal information from various sources to create individual profiles. They can sell this information to third parties, such as: advertisers, marketers, insurance companies, data mining corporations, financial institutions, government agencies, and political consultants.

[@markBalentine123567]

yes what you meant by stealing a person's info on the screen you are referring to data collection Data collection is the process of collecting and evaluating information or data from multiple sources to find answers to research problems, answer questions, evaluate outcomes, and forecast trends and probabilities. It is an essential phase in all types of research, analysis, and decision-making, including that done in the social sciences, business, and healthcare. During data collection, researchers must identify the data types, the sources of data, and the methods being used. We will soon see that there are many different data collection methods. Data collection is heavily reliance on in research, commercial, and government fields. Data collection or data gathering is the process of gathering and measuring information on targeted variables in an established system, the establish system are the profiles and the websites that has those profiles in them Data brokers are companies that collect and sell personal information from various sources to create individual profiles so they take the personal information from different sources on the websites and individual profiles that the data brokers then sells that personal information to third parties

[@OutdatedNoob]

they also do that, literally milk out everything

[@Dario.991]

Both would make the most sense, if they're scummy enough to steal someone elses commission then selling user data is a piece of cake for them

[@FabricatedPheonix]

It just shows you how little creators actually care about the products if they don't even notice it lol. Just shows you how much they really care about the shit they shove in our faces

[@Justacatlmao]

At this point if I see something advertised on KZbin I automatically assume it's a scam

[@hdnfbp]

If it gets to youtube, it wants a lot of atention for cheap and without checks and balances, so it's either a random new product, small company or scam

[@DarkForce2024]

I automatically assume that for any advertisement on the internet. Period. Also, at least 1/2 of all other advertisements.

[@xXHashassinXx]

You're getting close. If you see anything advertised anywhere ever it's probably a scam. Even if it's not they are spending money on ads and want it back. You pay for ads. Period. Better most times to find a smaller company that doesn't use their budget for advertisement.

[@chrisbarnes3864]

There's only two things on KZbin that I've found that work as advertised. Gamersupps and racon. Supps is a decent energy drink that I use only when I need to be awake, and I've been using racon earbuds for years. They aren't the best earbuds, but they are the best for how small they are.

[@gamerguy6990]

I bought only one thing advertised to me and that was a belt from Kore.

[@mikejohnsonmike]

"If any product is free, YOU are the product" that's some golden advice

[@CalebHawn]

A funny comment about the Pie ad blocker at 18:40, I first heard about that extension from their KZbin ads. VERY ironic to have a KZbin ad advertising an ad blocker that blocks KZbin ads. Like how is this a thing.

[@dmac5472]

And no matter how much you try to block the pie ads on youtube, a newer one shows up

[@ButteredToits-]

@@Illiminator31 lmao no im just going to continue to use adblocking wanna cry about it?

[@vascofernandes295]

The fact that this can even happen is a result of the reason why adblockers even exist in the first place. If ads were never annoying or time-wasting, adblockers would never exist.

[@k1llsh0t_87]

​@@ButteredToits-I replied to them too but honestly I think it's just a bot

[@diapysik]

@vascofernandes295 ad skipping has been around for as long as there has been ads and TV, make something special like the 90s skittles commercials and I'll watch them on purpose, but all I get is AI generated Elon Musk voices trying to get me to fall for a crypto scheme in a manner that would get an actual creator on the site banned.

[@hopefullynotbutprobably6643]

I always assumed Honey was just some spyware and never installed it. This is far worse than what I thought.

[@Ceratisa]

I read the agreements on using my data and they said they wouldn't which i had suspected was the money for them. So i tried it. It found coupons like twice then never found anything

[@Elvewizzy.]

I've always found it odd how an add-on that doesnt serve ads has the money to invest in youtubers. Like where does the money come from and how do they even make money. That being said, I tried it once, it didnt do anything, uninstalled it within 2 minutes

[@0xExcalibar752]

Same...

[@sauriel596]

Adblock Plus, along with lot of other blockers like uBlock Origin working in tandem is your friend (not the adblock by honey on this vid). Never seen an ad since then on youtube, and most sites got lot of background space if theres supposed to be something

[@valolafson6035]

​@@Elvewizzy. That was the same wonder I always had.

[@thanosianthemadtitanic]

at this point RAID SHADOW LEGENDS is the only sponser that hasnt been a scam. In Raid, we trust.

[@donotatme]

At least Raid is _just_ gambling

[@TGPDrunknHick]

@@donotatme what a time to be alive. just gambling is the lesser of evils...

[@ptrbask640]

And Squarespace

[@Scriptedviolince]

@@donotatme I play gacha games. Gambling is WEAKSAUCE compared to the financial damage chasing after PNGs has caused me.

[@NihongoWakannai]

​@@Scriptedviolince but it's still *technically* not gambling and rating E for everyone :)

[@118042]

Sounds like a salesman I used to work with. His wife was the general manager. He'd give a customer a call to remind them to come in for something another salesman already set up, and the GM would write him in and he'd get half the commission on sales. Shockingly, we needed a whole new sales staff very soon after this started.

[@sleepyrasta420]

I have a similar story i used to work for a company doing commission based door to door sales all over the country there was 3 of us plus the "manager" he would sit on his ass for the whole day in the car on his phone while we were out in all weather turned out some sales me and the guys got ended up being signed in his name before being sent to head office and he got the the commission, not only was he lazy he was a thief as far as we were concerned he got a punch in the face for it

[@anurag_verma_youtube]

So, Honey was literally a honeypot Lesson learned: Always think about the *business model* or motivations of anyone providing *anything for free*

[@cat80814]

this comment is so funny to me because when I deleted the extension and was prompted with the "why are you leaving??" page, i said the same thing....something along the lines of honey is a scam. the real HONEYpot😂

[@GhillieMaster]

Looks like Santa ain’t the only one taking cookies this Christmas

[@cat80814]

this needs more attention omfg

[@MonkeyDLuffy-ed4fj]

Most KZbin sponsors are either a scam or selling a trash product

[@chrisalex82]

There is only one good vpn, NORT- no, proton vpn 🔥🔥

[@urbanshadow777]

Google in general tbh

[@williamyoung9401]

Nuh uh! Not BetterHelp! Oh wait...

[@boltez6507]

Yup,it was more a fault on the youtubers end than on honeys,it is fckin clearly stated in their faq how their operations work,just goes out to reveal the amount of research these youtuberd do before promoting a product. It is like responsibility for thee(companies) but not for me.

[@phokeydhoo8940]

Or marketing a good product to people who don't need it. There are plenty of good reasons to use a VPN; most people who are subscribing from youtube ads don't need one at all.

[@cartermacewen3086]

As a marketing student who is well educated on affiliate marketing, cookies, and last click attribution, this has me foaming at the mouth. Insane scam that will likely destroy this company.

[@nonexistent2335]

No fr them lawsuits are gonna be crazy lmao

[@midn8588]

Would not be surprised if the feds pounced on this one. This is just fraud (allegedly).

[@aspzx]

Yeah honestly most "scams" exposed by KZbinrs are usually shady but still legal marketing. If MegaLag's findings are correct then Honey are not just falsely advertising that their product finds the best coupons but literally dipping their hand in the pockets of people who are generating the sales. If Google Chrome or KZbin did this by modifying the links people clicked on there would be outrage.

[@aspzx]

The funny thing is that browser extensions are effectively open source. I've downloaded the last two versions of the Honey extension and will take a look at the source code when I have a chance to see if it can be proven.

[@oxtailsoup6493]

I posted this as a regular comment but I also wanted to post this here to get your opinion on this conspiracy theory in case you don’t see my comment in the comments section. “If PayPal is doing this through honey which is a separate browser extension, how do we know PayPal isn’t also doing this when you pay for a product through the PayPal link in the checkout page of almost any consumer webpage. On almost every single website when you go to your cart to check out there are almost always multiple options with which to check out and PayPal is almost always among one of the check out options. When you choose to pay for the product on a checkout page through PayPal it redirects you to log in to your PayPal account to approve your purchase and the method of using PayPal (for example paying directly from your bank account, paying from a debit card you have already added to PayPal, or using your PayPal credit card on your account). Once you’ve chosen the method of PayPal payment you want to use for purchase, PayPal re-directs you back to the consumer website to finalize the transaction. The point is, in this scenario, PayPal is the “last click” in the chain and could easily swap their own affiliate code for the original that brought you to the consumer website to begin with (or create a brand new one if you didn’t reach the website through a prior affiliate) when you choose to pay via your PayPal account regardless if you have honey installed on your cpu or not. What if the reason why PayPal bought honey wasn’t because they solely wanted to use that particular plugin to steal affiliate money but also because they wanted to integrate the “last click replacement technology” that honey represented, into their own PayPal redirect purchasing option that is included in almost every single consumer website on the internet? I guess what I’m saying here is that it would make a lot more sense for PayPal to purchase honey for 4 billion dollars if their end goal was to incorporate the “last click technology” that honey uses into every single PayPal purchase option on every single consumer website that they already have access to. This isn’t about honey being a scam, this is about the PayPal check out option that is ubiquitous on the internet becoming the sole beneficiary of every single affiliate purchase commission every time someone decides they want to use their PayPal account as a means of purchasing a product online, regardless of whether they have honey installed or not… …I’m not suicidal.”

[@sherrifft770]

Whats messed up is that if i did something like this. Where i made a keyboard app or game or something like that and slipped in some code that changed affiliate cookies without the users knowledge for some extra cheese. I would probably be in federal prison for a long time. But when PayPal does it, it's no big deal.

[@ArrantPrac]

A podcaster I listened to back in the day went to jail for this. Doubt we'll see that happen here of course...

[@ser6Ijvolk]

Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's a harmful outlook to have. "I wish I was also in a position to illegally enrich myself with impunity". It ruins whole countries when their citizens think like this. Successful frauds, thieves and the corrupt should illicit your scorn, not envy. As for why they can rob with impunity, it's scale: "Nowadays, you can steal a bicycle and give up all your health in prison, or you can steal train cars worth of goods and always stay afloat. Stealing whole train loads is much safer than stealing bicycles, that's concrete advice I'm giving you." - Antibiotic (a character from a 90s Russian TV series called "Bandit Petersburg"; somewhat paraphrased)

[@Fenriswaffle]

@@ser6Ijvolk I don't think they were bemoaning their inability to scam people, they're pointing out the 2-tier justice system we're stuck with in this country.

[@CreepyUncleIdjit]

It's possible this might be a pre-existing circumstance from before PayPal purchased it. In which case I suspect it could be considered plausible deniability; it was code that PayPal didn't know was there.

[@ser6Ijvolk]

​@@Fenriswaffle Maybe, but accentuating the fact that you personally wouldn't be allowed to commit the crime with impunity is a strange way to do it. Wouldn't the better option be criticizing the fact that big companies often dodge responsibility for crimes or get a slap on the wrist instead? Well, I guess we'll never know unless he comments and clarifies.

[@whtiequillBj]

0:21, MegaLag said its going to be a 3 part series so there is more to come.

[@florentin2735]

This sounds like what dogpack404 did to mrbeast

[@Agu_.sports]

Do you know when part 2 is ?

[@iKA9x]

i know this video is about honey but THANK YOU for bringing up pie adblock. they've been ramming their shitty ads into every single ad break i get, sometimes back to back, for the past couple of months now, and seeing someone finally bring up this piece of shit is soo cathartic.

[@cfsfilms5091]

Annoying ads for an adblocker are like, the perfect example of "create a problem, sell a solution".

[@DeeDeeCHAUNCEY]

Never seen it. You should block ads. I’m on iOS a lot and have used adguard for 5 years. Never seen an ad on KZbin.

[@Goatfer]

As soon as they used that terrible AI voice I knew it must be a scam.

[@pickchickens5286]

Im using Pie rn and I havent found any bad thing about it yet, I was very skeptical yes, I used to trust sponsors from my favorite KZbinrs but after that Scottish titles bs and Better Help I dont trust any sponsors, so I would really like to know whats the downside of Pie cuz it blocks ads so far and even if I get a cashback of one cent a year, its still more than every other adblocker

[@namename9998]

Ive been seeing ads for adaware a lot in the past day. Not as many for pie. Adawares ads are better but 3+ in 2 hrs?

[@marcelv.birgelen2166]

It's come to a point where I as a company owner, would not even consider advertising with influencers or rather on KZbin at all, as this has all become so toxic. I'm on Premium, so most of the scammy KZbin ads are skipped by default by me, but every time a KZbin channel starts pitching a product I've not heard of before, I make a note in my scam list.

[@JoshuaT902]

Another criteria for the scam list - companies who are bought by large companies with billions of dollars might been good at the beginning but gotta regain the lost money.

[@Pgred-j8x]

You bought KZbin premium which is a bigger scam tbh

[@sadfatdragon9529]

I don't blame KZbinrs for taking sponsors since KZbin will demonetize channels for any reason. Although perhaps this could be yet another lesson for KZbinrs to be careful who you let sponsor you.

[@cheetah219]

This is my issue with the company I work for. I won't say who, but the company definitely isn't a scam and used to offer a fantastic product, imo. But, New leadership has ruined the product over the last 2 years through cost cutting etc. And our marketing team is still looking to use youtuber influencers as a big part of the sponsorship and affiliate budget. I asked our senior director about the marketingstrategy and how there is a prevailing sentiment that influencer marketing is actually full of scams because of other products scamming customers and influencers (I cited betterhelp). I'm not quite senior leadership, but I'm in a leadership role to ask these questions. Long story short, they have no idea that there is this sentiment. I showed him some of the comments I screenshotted about betterhelp and sentiment around it. I showed him generalized comments such as this (I.e. All youtuber sponsorships are scams). He said they will take another look at their strategy but wanted to ask me if I had a better idea for modern day marketing. I told him to market to our targeted audience. Don't sponsor tech videos or speedrunners. Sponsor influencers who are related to our product or who's core audience is the market we want. So, I will note. Not all products from youtubers are scams. But, companies seem to shotgun out infoeuncer sponsorships to find who will stick vs. Targeting relevant influencers and audiences who are more likely to connect with the product.

[@marcelv.birgelen2166]

@@Pgred-j8x Maybe I'm missing something, but I don't know why KZbin Premium is a scam to be honest. For me, with all the ads, KZbin is completely unwatchable. With Premium I can at least enjoy the content on the platform. So, KZbin is delivering on what they promise: For my $10 or so a month I get an experience that is at least free from KZbin ads, for me, that's money well spent... KZbin promises to give 55% of their Premium revenue to the creators. I can't verify that, but I also can't claim it isn't true. Without Premium, I simply wouldn't want to watch content on KZbin. Maybe the creators would get more revenue from if I'd watch all the ads, but that's not happening in the first place, so now at least they get something from my views. So, unless I'm missing something, I can't really call Premium a scam... I'm getting what I'm paying for. Maybe you find it not worth the money, but that alone doesn't make it a scam. So, fill me in, why do you claim it is a scam?

[@shubashuba9209]

Rule of thumb: Don't buy products based on sponsors.

[@pyp2205]

Especially those products that are repeatedly advertised by multiple content creators.

[@_MaZTeR_]

But before we get to the third comment, a word from our sponsor, Raid: Shadow Legends

[@gobalbucs]

“Guys, I’m not reading a script, I _actually_ play and _genuinely_ enjoy Raid: Shadow Legends-“

[@kempolar9768]

​@@gobalbucs"I filled out the personalised quiz and I was given the MIDNIGHT LUX" don't even remember the mattress company name but I've heard that word for word from minimum 5 places.

[@draftymamchak]

@@_MaZTeR_ Funnily enough, RAID: SHADOW LEGENDS is somehow not a scam, it is gambling from what I know but not really a scam… If it is a scam I would like to be notified.

[@NeuralPixel1997]

I think this is the first time I’ve seen Charlie talk about a scam before you lol. But of course will enjoy both videos.

[@techoeastveld]

I watch both of them too, SomeOrdinaryGamers more recently, but they are both good Channels

[@lillexus5589]

I stopped watching after the MrBeast debacle.

[@karolregin4810]

You should also watch MegaLag's video. The guy who actually did the research.

[@blvdes]

@@lillexus5589 terminally online

[@williamyoung9401]

Charlie is in damage-control mode because he promoted an utter scam and made money off of it. He's got to protect his brand. Plus he's ticked HE got scammed himself on his commissions. 😂

[@grandetaco4416]

I saw a honey ad on an old youtube video a few days ago and thought "I wonder whatever happened to that? I wonder if it's still around?" WOW did I get an answer to that! 😱

[@Thomas-Skaa]

things that didnt happen for 100 alex

[@emptysekai]

@@Thomas-Skaa do you have no life experience? 💀 it happened to me too, i was watching a smokey glow video that was sponsored by honey and it was on my mind, it's completely plausible lmao

[@DannyMoore2369]

believe me, Honey is NOT the only company scamming on commissions with affiliates

[@NetflixForeign]

Megalag did a great job. Thank you so much for crediting him Muta.

[@Lance_Lionroar]

Would be insane if he didn't.

[@JYMBO]

@@Lance_Lionroar no links to the original video in the description or comments

[@JoshuaT902]

@@JYMBO Most of the time it's the editor that adds the description. Muta didn't overly used Megalag clips and shows his channel at the beginning of the video. If you want to actually see the entire evidence you wouldve go to Megalag's channel.

[@TrungNguyen-nl6mv]

​@JoshuaT902 this should've been a 30 second video to just tell us to watch the Megalag video instead of basically changing the names used in the examples. This dude made it seem like he was the one who found out by tracking the cookies and stuff.

[@Neil3D]

Arguably, you could accuse Megalag of doing the same thing he's accusing Honey of doing. He claimed he did years of research and found no-one talking about it, but there's a very easy to find video from 4 years ago from a tiny KZbin channel called Original MCW who detailed this Honey scam that Megalag reported... 4 years ago. No way he didn't see this if he did "years of research". You could argue he's swooped in and taken the credit for the work that a smaller creator has done. Maybe he didn't, maybe he somehow missed this video, but it's more likely that he did see it and chose to not reference the information presented 4 years ago and pass it off as his own.

[@mettajennifer]

Thank you for amplifying this horrific scam. I hope the FTC or congress bears down on these criminals!

[@bandit6272]

Anytime I suddenly see a sponsor being pushed everywhere, I immediately get suspicious. Better health, that fake noble titles one etc. I'm not saying Ground News is a scam, but they all of a sudden were everywhere and I ALSO inherently don't trust anyone who wants me to trust them to tell me which sources I should trust and use. Again, I have no reason to suspect Ground News of being shady in any way, but I instinctively dislike anyone who poses as a sort of "information gatekeeper".

[@Matthigast]

Ground News just seems like a headline scraper to me... "We scraped this headline from 6 right wing, 2 neutral and 2 left wing sources, clearly there's a blind spot! That'll be $50"

[@lemonit8958]

​@@Matthigast You can actually get that stuff free. You don't need to pay to get enough stuff to get buy. I do have ground news and I have it completely free. if it is a scam, let me know please so I can delete it

[@vascofernandes295]

@@bandit6272 Considering who I saw promoting it, I don't think it's scum.

[@bandit6272]

@vascofernandes295 As this video just established, promoters can be misled or mistaken. Even if I loved and respected everyone promoting it, that doesn't make it good. I can't help that the internet has made me distrustful of the new "current thing" suddenly being pushed everywhere by loads of people, especially when it involves anything to do with influencing the information I consume. I mean, didn't they just start up fairly recently? Where did all this advertising money come from? What are these "investors" getting out of it? What are their agendas and how might those agendas influence the service? Again, I just wonder about these things. Alex was right about at least one thing, we are in an information war, and it pays to be cautious about people who want you to trust them to tell you what information you should consume and how trustworthy it is. I think we should be very careful about "subcontracting" out our critical thinking.

[@bandit6272]

@@Matthigast And you're probably right. That's probably all it is. I can't help that I wonder about the agendas of its founders and investors, and wonder how they might influence the service. If they turn out to be a highly objective, unbiased, honest, and transparent news service.......well I think that would be a first

[@goatreviews]

Thanks so much for covering this, Mutahar! 🙏 As a creator who relies on affiliate commissions, I feel absolutely betrayed by Honey’s disgraceful practices.

[@MordecaiSPM]

5:30 I think you need to credit the example from Megalag. It's literally one to one.

[@miscme7116]

This is one reason I use adblock and also sponsorblock that skips the sponsor plugs on the videos, so I don't get exposed to scams like Honey. Now it looks like it is starting to pay off even more.

[@_M_643]

The reason I use it is to simply not see adverts in videos. I don't understand people making a decision solely from a biased sponsor. If I wanted to buy something, I'd research it myself.

[@TheLastApostle]

KZbin is implementing their own sponser skip button. Idk if its only on premium but if a sponser comes up and you fast forward once itll pop up a button to skip to thr most common spot for skips. Ehich always just happens to be after the sponser read lol. I think youtube knows ehat its doing. Its allowing premium users to skip all ads

[@interstella0]

​@@TheLastApostle It's only for yt premium, specifically on mobile.

[@TheLastApostle]

@interstella0 ah

[@inoob26]

@@_M_643 I mostly use them cuz 90% of the sponsored segments either have no value to me or makes no sense to buy from the US (due to being from Asia)

[@algongamin7935]

maker of honey also made pie, that ad blocker that's all over KZbin right now

[@DarkForce2024]

I have one extension installed, uBO. I will never install any other extensions. uBO has a proven track record and is open-source.

[@Aisha-pe6ue]

Yeah it just seems like a cashgrab off the war on adblockers KZbin is waging right now, KZbin might even be supporting it as a way to get people to watch ads so KZbin gets money from people who use Pie for the pennies it gives you.

[@AndersHaalandverby]

Stealing affiliate links doesnt just affect the youtuber promoting honey, it obviously affects ANY affiliate link, so whenever your favourite blogger or hobby or gaming website or whatever has one of those "I get a small commission" links, Honey will steal them all, if you click the button that shows up.

[@Lambda.Function]

This needs to result in criminal charges. They're committing mass fraud and theft. The people who built this company are now doing the same thing with ads via pie. This is a criminal organization lmao.

[@skyroberts6339]

I’m so glad you clarified just how bad/the spread this honey thing goes - I think that was kinda lost in megalads video and is, imo, crucial to the severity of this situation. How it affected people not even involved with Honey whatsoever, that is what would be the biggest point in court. Honey would have a hard time defending this all as just “an honest mistake”.

[@jvsantosfan7044]

Ive been waiting all day for mutas input on the honey scam!

[@Koego]

honey nut cheerios?

[@xenogg8702]

Huge Props to MegaLag for discussing it when (almost) Nobody even bats an eye b4👏🏻👏🏻

[@project4200]

Bc no one knew about it...

[@mjc0961]

@project4200 As discussed in MegaLag's video, Linus Tech Tips did know but decided to keep quiet about it. Not surprising, they're an advertisement company more than anything else, exposing one advertiser and making any other potential advertisers nervous that they might be next would be bad for business.

[@SuigaRou]

​@@project4200 Apparently Linus Tech Tips did.

[@PlasticTaste7]

​@@project4200Maybe watch the video first instead of commenting 🙂

[@ChucksSEADnDEAD]

​@@project4200 A youtuber called Original MCW did a video about this 4 years ago.

[@Lunathean]

Pausing at 6:05 to say my peace, the thing that really shook my core was when I found out they literally loose you money overall! Because websites can say to honey that I only want you to save 5% and no matter what honey finds you'll only save 5%. That's lowkey scummy behavior

[@tluvloco]

Not lowkey scummy, full on trash behavior. PayPal has been awful for decades. I feel guilty for not knowing they were behind honey.

[@FabricatedPheonix]

So you're blaming honey for a script from the website?????? What?

[@pjcnet]

Yes it really is scamming KZbinrs by stealing affiliate income and it often lies about finding the best deal, KZbinrs should start a class action lawsuit.

[@ethanw.eastep9673]

I expect there to be videos about Linus Tech Tips not being open about it and not warning other youtubers about their shady deeds, If he did it would have saved everyones time with coming around to this conclusion of an exposé much much sooner, Also Markiplier's instincts were right 4 years later.

[@Dirty_Hobo]

Honey never gave me a working discount code, that was the biggest scam for me personally

[@Relentless966]

honestly, yeah this was the main reason why I instantly uninstalled Honey the second I saw the Megalag video, was the fact that after 2 wholes years of having it installed, I had ONE deal like two months ago that was only a 5% discount... That was a raspberry pi pico arduino

[@misterJBD]

People need to go after Opera GX too...

[@Foxfried]

what did they do?

[@meurer13daniel]

God I hate Opera GX marketing thing based on RAM usage. However, as far as I know, they are not doing anything that other browsers doesn't do, which is collecting user data. And that's not anything new for anyone with two braincells. They just rely on misleading marketing

[@sterkriger2572]

@@Foxfriedthey servers are based in China so literally CCP spyware

[@h.r.hufnstuf4171]

they do and keep failing lol

[@Linda-]

@@Foxfried chinese spyware

[@Riley880]

If its free the product is you

[@blvdes]

how does that apply to this context

[@williamyoung9401]

@@blvdes @Riley880 bots...bots...everywhere... 😫

[@haley9425]

Unless its open source

[@Riley880]

@@blvdes seriously? they sell your info to data collectors that extension tracks everything you do in the browser.

[@jorge666]

@@blvdesbecause they are making money off of you?

[@Brian-it5jr]

Your videos are helping me get thru the flu. Great content.

[@Kimmercore]

holy shit two muta videos in a day? christmas came early

[@TroubleChute]

I haven't had a single honey coupon actually work. Same with those coupon websites that are just affiliate links for them.

[@rolu9345]

megalag with the quality journalism again. this guy is great.

[@andrediego6131]

I think whats craziest is that they are owned by paypal, which is considered a safe way to spend your money, if they commit fraud through honey, what else could they be doing?

[@TheLastApostle]

Paypal is a huge scam too. And a known scam. It charges you to do literally anything with your money and can just take it all if they decide they want to.

[@Scy1hee]

i remember a old muta vod where he said "i have never saved a single dollar on honey, but im glad for those of u have

[@OfficialGalacticPrincess]

I'm so happy you also mentioned honey --> pie and just how generally being the "consumer" in this case actually is just being the product for sale. super important to at least know or trust what you put on your computer like that

[@ObjectiveMediaDoesntExist]

You should definitely have included a link to megalag’s video in description.

[@Holycurative9610]

People can go look it up, this do everything for viewers is where Honey got away with most of their scam. The app made people too lazy to go do a quick search for vouchers.

[@mattjax16]

I think something even bigger that people are missing with LMG that was mentioned in the video is that they then took on another sponsor exactly like honey

[@ChiakiHatori]

I've seen Honey being promoted before but I never used it because no matter how much I like the KZbinr, I never purchase/use anything they explicitly advertise. Especially when I see the same ads everywhere all of a sudden. When I find something I like on my own, I look at reviews and decide for myself. I will continue supporting the people I enjoy watching but you won't catch me dead purchasing anything anybody continuously promotes.

[@grip7777]

Thanks for spotlighting this, it's not just about influencers, it's about tricking the average person into this. They prey on honest people that expects honesty from others.

[@EpicATrain]

I'm so glad you came back to making these types of videos again.

[@timogame-go1dk]

Mrbeast: "Honey literally gives you this for free, Honey gives you this money... " Anything associated with MrBeast is evil, please someone put that guy in jail

[@tfairfield42]

No link to Megalag's channel or video?

[@rTTnCRAFT]

No because it's all about him and his very very original take on someone else's hard work

[@falatalane]

Main point of video is at 17:55 if you dont want to waste almost 19 minutes

[@Franceee___]

Gotta get the bag somehow

[@yanrunze08]

KZbinr who was taking money from scammers to promote scams got scamed by the same scammer. I don’t see any problem with that.

[@imdaman9782]

Those pie ads have been shoved down my throat. thanks for enlightening me, almighty mutahar

[@Sumdumguy44]

Is it a scam? Yes, yes it is. Scams both the affiliate and the end user by stealing referrals and intentionally withholding coupons.

[@ferenc-x7p]

There was a podcast, i wish I could remember, whether it was Vergecast or someone else who mentioned of Honey being a giant scam and advised everyone to uninstall it. This was back in spring, or even 2023, can't remember.

[@ROSNADOR]

WHOA! After the MegaLag video, the youtube algorithm recommended me the video from penguinz0 and now this! Finally the algorithm is working well!

[@Fireking285]

Exactly same thing happened to me

[@dawidkozmik6702]

15:30 The instant head turn, stare into camera, and shouting that Muta does KILLS me every time. My sides are actually in orbit.

[@DameunPutazo]

Folding Ideas name dropped it as a scam years ago. It was about how stupid Flat Earth was… and here we are. Great channel.

[@spitesfromsprites6831]

Didn't know 2024 would be the year we got rotten honey

[@therelaxedguy_y]

13:03 is that mullvad vpn or moba vpn?

[@cumbo1168]

Yea i am trying to figure it out too

[@tdcfc]

Mullvad

[@Fireking285]

​@cumbo1168 Yeah just found it. It's "Mullvad"

[@electron6825]

MutaVPN

[@lastninja94]

Let’s go, 2 videos in a day Muta is on fire.

[@aradarkagus]

Please keep the momentum on this, more people need to see this.

[@amansour]

Great point on how it impacts every affiliate link. Not just the KZbinrs that promoted it. That's crazy.

[@Sleezy.Design]

Am I the only one who realizes how many times Muta says the words "actual" or "actually"? i just can't unhear it anymore and it really grinds my gears

[@Whoataku]

Does it actually grind anything?

[@Sleezy.Design]

@ my actual gears, actually

[@Robbie-mw5uu]

a c k s h u a l l y

[@driwerz8200]

same with "literally"

[@Sleezy.Design]

@@Robbie-mw5uu ☝️🤓

[@ares395]

His video was part 1 and he clearly mentioned it is much bigger still so no, it's not bigger than he made it seem since he didn't present the entire case yet... this is 19 min video that's all just rehashing while you can watch the original vid that is around 20 min as well...

[@animelafuerza]

I usually like your videos but how is it repeating all the points in the original video something productive? this video could have been a tweet or a short with a link to the original one

[@tsukikoamagiri]

I'm halfway in but if he rly brings nothing new to the table, it could've been way shorter w link to the og video. Man...

[@SirWaffleTop]

I'm so glad you brought up Pie. I didn't know it was made by Honey but I immediately thought of them.

[@FabricatedPheonix]

The only thing this scandal has shown me is how little creators care about the product they are promoting. Why should I care if they lose money if they can't even be bothered to keep track of their finances of a product they are promoting?

[@tanish9381]

Could you please credit MegaLag's youtube channel in desc? That dude great a great job investigating this. It will also help out his channel a little bit.

[@sam_bibly]

whenever i see he has a polo shirt on in the thumbnail i click on the video just to see if one of the collars is sticking straight up in the air and it always is

[@PremPnamNam]

The bit around 5:30 was really really closely paraphrased from Megalag's original video, maybe make it more clear that that's where that came from? Seemed a little odd to use that similar of phrasing without acknowledging that the video you're talking about used the original version of that example

[@HoudiniFontmeister]

Megalag deserves a medal for his video NGL. I was like "why is nobody else talking about this". Happy everyone on it today 😂

[@RazorTH]

One way to maybe fix this without directly involving Honey, at least the affiliate cookie part, pages should have a field in the checkout "Where did you heard about this product" it shows a list of content creators that are affiliated (automatically selects the current affiliate), and then the website uses that field (if filled) and ignores the other cookie.

[@username7763]

This is what companies should do instead of tracking cookies. No different than if you buy something in a store and they ask you what salesperson you worked with. This is honest and a fine way to do business. But instead, advertisers like to track you and now are upset that someone intercepted their tracking attempt.

[@Snowmanse]

Honey was great, when it actually did what it was supposed to. But now Honey gets its own coupon codes from some companies, and it won't show you a better offer than one of their own codes, if available.

[@harryshuman9637]

Influencer = scammer. Always has been this way people, I'm not sure why it's such a shock every time something like this happens.

[@heisthee]

Because people are greedy and stupid. As you said, nothing new.

[@hellfire2023]

don't know if you noticed, but Mutahar can also be considered an influencer

[@harryshuman9637]

@@hellfire2023 Yes, and I am waiting for the day that weird VPN service he advertises, the one that accepts money in an envelope sent by mail turns out to be a CIA honeypot.

[@SkeleTonHammer]

​@@hellfire2023You're almost there...

[@chibisayori20]

@@hellfire2023 gotta kill the competition

[@the_nameless9519]

0:49 Exactly my thought when you said Honey sponsorship

[@hasibreza5426]

00:50 "Honey is like the "Raid Shadow Legends" of browser extention"- LMAO

[@krauserzero]

i pose this question again because it is kinda relevant. do you think PIE does the same thing that Honey is doing especially since PIE is made by one of the ppl behind Honey?

[@Nvr-Back-Dwn]

Poching content from smaller channels and not even dropping their link in the description is 🤮

[@ataecee]

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...

[@fclefjefff4041]

Most of your thumbnails make it look like you’re talking about serious, heavy, life-changing topics 😂

[@reedime5396]

There was something else that no one talk about. Ever try to use Honey to find coupon codes after ordering a pizza? Honey always says there's no codes online, even though you know there has to be something. It could very well be a bug, but now I think it was never looking online for codes to save you money.

[@chrisxd146]

It's disconcerting how both content creators and consumers alike trusted in a company in which their business model was "we can save you money for free". I also dont forsee a class-action lawsuit amounting to anything due to the legal grey area surrounding affiliate links. Honey - the company - can argue that their web extension also engages in marketing for the product, which means they're allowed to collect the commission as agreed upon by their company and whoever the retailer is (hence the PayPal affiliate link existing in the first place).

[@me0101001000]

If Peter Thiel is involved, it's going to be shady. A simple heuristic to abide by, but it applies extremely well.

[@miguelrmusic]

*cough* Rumble *cough*

[@phoneywheeze]

i don't think peter is involved, paypal was purchased by eBay

[@liquidpup]

1:16 Your still are the product even if it wasn’t free😭

[@TrashComment]

I notice that most things KZbinrs sponsor or advertise are 98% of the time is a scam.

[@Rleatfitness]

I uninstalled it today after seeing that video, they ask you why and I was very honest in the feedback 🤣

[@fillman86]

I really like how you recapped this guy's 2 day old video filled with lots of months of research and added next to nothing, making it a market replacement. I like how you also didn't put a link to his channel of video, real cool of you, you're a neat guy, thumbs up

[@DemonicScouge]

Hey muta, when are you gonna release the just stop oil movement video you pronise to release 5 months ago?

[@SomeGuy71700]

Y'all, just watch MegaLag's video, this video doesn't have any new information really and is missing fair chunks of what I feel actually highlights how bad this scam really is. This is like hearing someone describe part of a video second hand.

[@PseudonymousCorvid]

Thank you for pointing out the scrutiny that LMG should be under. I made a forum account there to respond to an Admin there who was saying that the forum post is sufficient. It wasn't worth it, but the info i found was that their forum had 1.4 Mil active users in November and the channel has around 16 million subscribers. It's incredibly arrogant to assume that only telling around 1/16 of your audience, who are probably going to have more technical knowledge already considering it's a forum in 2024, is the best means of disclosing this issue to your fans. Not every brand deal ending requires a whole video, however if they hadn't felt appropriately prepared to handle the story, I'm sure there's any number of KZbin scam hunters who would have taken the mantle if tipped off and shown what proof they could find. Or, I don't know, a newspaper? Massive fraud, even if in the online ecosystem, is a story most relevant investigators would have been interested in with the proof. There's no good excuse to have seen what they were doing as one of their 3rd largest influencer advertisers, and as a decent-sized team of people with professional knowledge in technology across a wide span, and have just cut ties without any explanation. It's honestly a coward's move in my opinion, and while that may be harsh, in 2024 on the verge of the new year and looking back on the past few years there's been so many areas for them to appropriately disseminate this information.

[@50_Pence]

this is seriously dirty - id expect nothing less from PayPal - i hate them

[@grendelbiter303]

Yeah Paypal is shit. They've closed so many accounts and stole so much money just because they didn't like the account holders.

[@finneogan]

This video is a perfect example of a youtuber not stealing someone else's important work but amplifying it to their own audience in a way that gives full credit to the originator while adding some extra information. Thanks, Mutahar.