Influencers are suing Capital One, alleging its Shopping browser extension 'stole' credit for sales from them
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- Influencers have filed a lawsuit against Capital One.
- They allege its Shopping extension hurt their earnings by unfairly claiming credit for sales.
- Capital One said it disagreed with the premise of the lawsuit.
First, the influencers came for PayPal's Honey. Now, Capital One is in the crosshairs.
Capital One is the subject of a lawsuit filed this week by creators, who allege the company's Shopping browser extension hurt their affiliate-marketing commissions by stealing credit for driving sales.
"We disagree with the premise of the complaint and look forward to defending ourselves in court," a Capital One spokesperson told Business Insider.
Capital One Shopping is a free browser extension that searches for discount codes and coupons, compares prices across around 30,000 online retailers, and lets users earn rewards that can be exchanged for gift cards. It makes money by earning a commission when its users purchase an item from its merchant partners.
In a class-action lawsuit filed on January 6 in a Virginia court, two creators who promote products on social media allege Capital One's Shopping browser extension is designed to "systematically appropriate commissions that belong to influencers."
The lawsuit alleges Capital One Shopping "stole credit" by swapping out influencers' affiliate-marketing browser cookies with its own. Cookies are small data files stored on a user's device that help companies track users' browsing history.
The war for the last click
Much like recent lawsuits filed by influencers against PayPal over its Honey browser extension, the Capital One Shopping case hones in on the marketing practice of "last-click attribution."
In this model, cookies, unique web links, promo codes, and other analytics tags are used to determine the last piece of content a user engages with before they make a purchase. That entity, be it a YouTube video or an ad, gets credit for the purchase.
The practice has fallen out of favor in some marketing circles because it doesn't consider the full cycle of convincing someone to buy a product. There are also concerns that some middlemen may try to game the system to unfairly claim last-click credit for purchases that they had little to do with.
Companies in the affiliate-marketing industry often seek to adhere to "stand down" practices, where they won't override another affiliate's cookies.
In their lawsuit, content creators Jesika Brodiski and Peter Hayward allege Capital One Shopping took credit for sales and conversions that were originally derived from affiliate-marketing links they shared to social media.
Brodiski shared affiliate-marketing links on social media for products on Walmart.com, and the lawsuit claims that — if a user had the Capital One Shopping extension activated during the checkout process — Capital One would remove her associated cookie and replace it with its own. The lawsuit said Brodiski earned around $20,000 through affiliate marketing in 2024 but that her earnings were hampered by Capital One Shopping.
Jesika Brodiski and Peter Hayward, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiff(s), v. Capital One Financial Corporation, Wikibuy LLC, and Wikibuy Holdings LLC.
Hayward is part of the Amazon affiliate-marketing program and similarly alleges Capital One would replace his referral tag with its own.
The lawsuit also alleges Brodiski and Hayward "face future harm in the form of stolen referral fees and sales commissions because the Capital One Shopping browser extension continues to steal affiliate marketing commissions with each passing day."
A court will need to certify the class action in order for the case to proceed
The plaintiffs are seeking a jury trial. If the case is certified as a class action, other influencers could join the suit.
Christopher Roberts, partner and class-action attorney at the law firm Butsch Roberts & Associates, told BI the most difficult part of such cases is getting the class certified. The court will need to rigorously analyze various factors, such as whether the class is big enough and whether it would make more sense to litigate complicated cases individually.
Certification aside, Roberts said he felt the case would come down to what discovery showed.
"This case, on its face, is very well-pled, and it's pretty specific as to the code for this app being supplanted on the computer so that they can get the affiliate payment," Roberts said.