Old video of Markiplier doubting Honey goes viral following browser extension’s recent controversy

An old clip from 2019 of YouTuber Mark Fischbach, aka "Markiplier," has gone viral. In the clip, the YouTuber expressed his doubts about Honey. For those unaware, Honey is a popular browser extension owned by PayPal. It applies automatic discount codes to items that people buy. Recently, however, the browser extension has faced allegations of "stealing money from content creators."

In the viral reaction clip, Markiplier asserted that he wasn't convinced by Honey's scheme. This was down to his belief that there's nothing for free online. He said:

"I have a natural distrust of Honey...I don't know what it is but my gut tells me that nothing in life is free so where are all these savings coming from? The money that people get from Honey, I just don't trust it. They push so much advertising on YouTube, they do brand deals. They even offered me, and I said, 'No.' Because I just don't trust Honey"

He added that he felt in a couple of years, the extension was going to be found out:

"I have a feeling that in like a couple of years there's gonna be this great Honey conspiracy of 2022 and I don't know what it is."

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What is the controversy involving the Honey browser extension?

Honey, the widely used browser extension known for providing discount codes and coupons, is currently facing allegations of siphoning money from affiliated content creators. These claims were brought to light by YouTuber MegaLag (442K subscribers).

MegaLag explains the alleged scam by detailing how Honey’s affiliate system reportedly works. According to him, when a YouTuber promotes an affiliate link to Honey, they are supposed to earn a commission if users purchase products through that link.

However, in practice, when users apply Honey’s discount codes, the affiliate cookie on the page is replaced with one that credits Honey instead. As a result, the YouTubers lose out on the commission they would otherwise receive. The YouTuber said this about the alleged scam:

"PayPal provided absolute zero value to the customer, yet they were rewarded the sale. But because this is all happening online buried behind clicks and cookies and tracking data there's little to no transparency that this is ever happening."

MegaLag also explained the concept of Last Click Attribution, where the last click from a user determines who receives the credit. In Honey's case, since they have an extension, it always registers as the last click, which MegaLag argues is unfair to the YouTubers.

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For those wondering, YouTubers and creators who have promoted Honey affiliate links include MrBeast, LinusTechTips, PewDiePie, Pokimane, and others.