Microsoft founder and American billionaire Bill Gates’ 23-year-old daughter, Phoebe Gates, is facing controversy over allegations of “cookie stuffing” linked to her digital shopping startup, Fia.
According to foreign media reports, Phoebe Gates founded Fia with her former Stanford University classmate, Sofia Kianni. The platform helps users find various products and discount offers while shopping online.
What Is “Cookie Stuffing”?
According to reports, Fia has been accused of using certain features that placed cookies in users’ browsers, potentially allowing the company to receive credit and commissions for online purchases even when it had not actually directed the users to the relevant retailer.
This practice is known as “cookie stuffing”, and under certain circumstances, allegations related to it can lead to serious legal consequences.
According to US legal experts, if the relevant federal crimes are proven, the maximum possible sentence could be up to 20 years in prison. However, Phoebe Gates has not been sentenced to such a punishment, and no such ruling has been issued against her.
Fia initially described the issue as a technical error and said that the relevant features were removed after the company became aware of the problem.
According to reports, after the controversial features were disabled, Fia’s average daily revenue reportedly fell from around $80,000 to between $10,000 and $28,000.
Questions Raised Over Phoebe’s Coding Skills
Questions have also emerged about Phoebe Gates’ technical abilities after former Stanford classmates reportedly claimed that she was not known as a skilled coder.
According to a former classmate, Phoebe studied Human Biology at Stanford University. Computer science classes were not mandatory for the degree, and she reportedly did not take advanced coding courses.
The former classmate said that when Phoebe and Sofia announced their plans for Fia, some computer science students also questioned their coding abilities.
Phoebe later took a class at Stanford in Applied Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship, which subsequently played a role in the establishment of Fia.
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