How This Chrome Policy Change Will Affect Your Shopping Extensions
Following the controversy surrounding the PayPal Honey browser extension, Google Chrome has updated its policies prohibiting activities that the extension has been seen to engage in. The updated Chrome extension rules for affiliate advertising include language that appears to be a direct response to many of the tactics Honey has been accused of engaging in, such as pushing affiliate codes without offering discounts. Given that Chrome supports most browsers available today , we can expect this to have major implications for shopping extensions in the future.
If you’re not up to date on the Honey controversy, a years-long investigation by YouTuber MegaLag recently uncovered evidence of unexpected behavior. Honey has been accused of allowing retailers to control which discount codes you can access and, as a result, preventing you from finding the best deals available, despite advertising to the contrary. It has also been noticed that the extension inserts its own affiliate codes into every shopping website you visit and replaces other affiliate codes with its own, which means it is effectively pocketing someone else’s commissions. Additionally, Honey has actually confirmed to MegaLag that it engages in some of these practices intentionally.
According to Chrome’s updated affiliate advertising policy, extensions can no longer add affiliate links, codes, or cookies without providing a tangible benefit to users. Extensions will also be required to clearly state their affiliate policy before installation, in the user interface, and on the Chrome Web Store page. Google has outlined some common violations of this policy to make things clear for developers as well: The company has stated that extensions cannot insert affiliate links without providing some sort of discount or cashback offer. It also prohibited extensions from inserting affiliate links in the background without “appropriate user action.”
According to Google, this means extensions can’t insert purchase-related cookies while you’re browsing without telling you. They can also no longer insert or replace affiliate codes or promotional codes without the user’s knowledge. Honey and other extensions that allow you to find better deals will have to change the way they operate to comply with these policies.
If your favorite shopping browser extension is affected by Google’s new policies, you can still use other price comparison tools. Lifehacker’s resident deal expert Daniel Oropeza invites you to check out his full list of his favorite price tracking tools . It includes several browser extensions and even a price tracking tool from Honey itself (don’t worry, it’s not a browser extension) that are very useful for deal hunters. My personal favorite is Slickdeals , a site I’ve been using for over a decade to find great deals. I really appreciate the Slickdeals community for more than just price tracking. The best deals get a lot of upvotes, and the comments below each deal help me quickly determine if a deal is truly a steal.