Microsoft Lawsuit Claims Shopping Extension ‘Hijacks’ Content Creators’ Online Sales Commissions

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A proposed class action lawsuit accuses Microsoft of using the Microsoft Shopping browser extension to hijack sales commissions owed to content creators who promote products online.

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The 16-page lawsuit claims the Microsoft Shopping browser extension, which searches for coupons and discounts for online shoppers, secretly swaps out tracking tools used to credit commission payments to influencers when followers or viewers use their referral links to purchase a sponsor’s product.

Per the suit, online retailers rely on tracking codes called “cookies” to determine who gets credit for online referrals and product sales. If a content creator’s sponsored promotion leads a consumer to click the referral link to a merchant’s website, a cookie unique to that influencer is stored on the shopper’s browser, the complaint relays. If the consumer then makes a purchase, the creator can be rightfully credited with the commission, the Microsoft lawsuit says.

However, the complaint alleges that Microsoft “hijacks that system” by swapping an influencer’s cookie with its own “at the last minute” during online checkout, thereby taking credit for a sale it did not make.

For example, if a consumer proceeding through checkout clicks a Microsoft Shopping pop-up that reads “[t]ry all coupons” or offers cash-back rewards, the browser extension will secretly replace the existing tracking tag with its own, regardless of whether any coupons even work, and “poach” the sales commission for itself, the filing claims.

“The result: Microsoft pockets the commission, leaving the content creator who generated the sale empty-handed,” the case contends.

According to the class action suit, Microsoft Shopping is unlike other browser extensions in that it comes pre-installed on Microsoft Edge, the default browser on all Windows computers. The extension is also integrated into Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, which gives consumers access to the tool even if they use web browsers that do not support it, such as Mozilla Firefox or Safari, the case says.

The complaint alleges that the millions of consumers who utilize the extension have unwittingly become participants in Microsoft’s “large-scale scheme against content creators.”

The lawsuit looks to represent any entity in the United States that has participated in an affiliate marketing program with a U.S. online merchant and had their commissions diverted to Microsoft via the Microsoft Shopping browser extension.

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