Did AI shopping app Phia claim unearned affiliate sales through fake clicks? Europe took another step toward a social media ban for kids, and what are your plans for AI Appreciation Day?

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Did AI shopping app Phia claim unearned affiliate sales through fake clicks?
Europe took another step toward a social media ban for kids. And what are your plans for AI Appreciation Day? It's Monday, July 13th, and here's a quick look at some of the news happening in the sphere of tech this morning from Engadget.
According to multiple reports, the AI-powered shopping plug-in Phia used a tactic known as cookie stuffing to attach its affiliate code to sales it did not actually drive. Phia, which launched last spring, was co-founded by Phoebe Gates, Bill Gates' daughter, and Sophia Chiani. Investigations by researcher Ben Adelman, Bloomberg, and Capital One Shopping all reportedly found instances of the browser extension claiming referrals through fake clicks, and even taking credit for sales that other publishers should have gotten the commission for. Adelman published a detailed breakdown on how this worked, complete with a video showing Phia's affiliate link invisibly loaded into a second tab on iOS after visiting a merchant's website. It is worth reading through. Phia has blamed the issues highlighted in the investigations on a bug in a statement to Bloomberg. A spokesperson for the company said, Within the last 24 hours, we were made aware that in a recent release, our code base was causing misattributions from a subset of users. As soon as we were notified, our team worked overnight to identify, mitigate, and has since resolved the issue.
Following a new report from experts showing worrying data, Europe is taking steps toward barring children from using social media. That's according to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in an announcement over the weekend. Von der Leyen said, It is clear we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms. This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children. The report revealed some pretty alarming statistics. Across Europe, kids now spend four to six hours a day on social media, and almost 60% of them have experienced socio-emotional development and susceptibility to mental health issues, resulting in sleep and concentration problems and increased rates of depression and anxiety. As a result, the study recommended that the EU restrict social media access for kids under 13 unless supervised by a parent or teacher. It also advised that teens between 13 and 18 only get access to platforms with safety features like limits on infinite scrolling. It further recommended that toddlers under three have no screen access at all. Australia was the first country to bar children under 16 from social media, and multiple nations and territories, including France, Germany, and Spain, are looking into it. One US state, Florida, implemented a ban in 2024 on social media use for children under 14 without parental approval. Critics of the ban in Australia have said that kids can easily sidestep it by simply lying about their age or using fake accounts. The government there recently announced that it will double the maximum penalty for social media companies breaking its minimum age law to $99 million Australian dollars or about $68 million US dollars. If Europe were to carry through with a new law, it would be the largest effort by far to ban social media use by children. The block is home to 450 million people, of which 81 million or so are under the age of 18 But creating such legislation would require negotiations and buy-in from all 27 nations in the block, something that could take a lot of time. The report may represent a tipping point, though, with Von der Leyen saying, The more we learn and the more we see the impact on our children, the stronger the argument becomes for a social media start date.
Well, apparently, July 16th is AI Appreciation Day, which has left some wondering, who asked for this? In name, it's about as serious as the marketing stunts that gave us gems like National Hot Dog Day or National Doughnut Day. In practice, the day calls for the intentional recognition of the most consequential technology in human history, instead of simply claiming some free food, like other fake holidays. While we can acknowledge the impact that AI has made on society and industries thus far, it does not warrant its own day of dedication. So apparently, the proper way to celebrate AI Appreciation Day includes suggestions like, think a person who builds or maintains AI, talk to a child or skeptic about it, sign the pledge and put the day on your calendar. As satirical as these ideas sound, they are apparently very much real recommendations. We should be embracing the human experience, instead of celebrating this AI slop of an excuse for a special day. Instead of putting AI front and center for a day, how about supporting a local artist by buying some of their work, or go swim in a natural body of water before it's forever impacted by data centers powering AI.