- The extension of honey was recently accused of being a scam
- Google responded by updating its extension rules
- Some people believe that the search engine giant took things too far
Earlier this week, Google updated Chrome extension rules for affiliates, basically telling its users that without tangible benefit, or user’s action, affiliate links cannot be placed. Although it is not specifically indicated, by great, the community agrees that Paypal’s honey extension forced Google’s arm here.
For those with shorter stretches, two months ago, a youtuber called Megalag published an in -depth investigation on how the extension of the Honey browser was essentially dedicated to the means of reference.
Honey is an extension that was announced as a coupon hunter, which finds the best offers for people who seek to buy online. However, the investigators argued that the references of the influential people who promoted the extension, with their own, basically stealing the people of their commission were changing.
UX monopoly or protection abuse?
Now, the new rules of Google extension clarify what is allowed and what is not: “The links, codes or cookies of affiliates should only be included when the extension provides a benefit of the direct and transparent user related to the central functionality of the extension. It is not allowed to inject affiliate links without user related actions and without providing a tangible benefit to users. “
“Some common violations include: Insert affiliate links when discount, cash return or donation” and “an extension that continuously injects affiliate links in the background without an action of the related user action is not provided.”
Apparently, this is what honey was doing. In some cases, even if I did not find discount coupons, references would still change. Google and Paypal have not yet commented on the new development.
While consumer protection is always good, not everyone agrees with Google here. In the Verge article comments section, there are people who believe that Google is using its browser monopoly position for “strong arm”, honey, and that it should not be the one that decides whether another person’s business model is viable or not. While it is probably a strong argument, other people pointed out that Google has the right to decide what type of user experience creates for its user base.
Through The edge
