Motorola Clarifies: Affiliate Hijacking of Amazon App Was Unintended

Motorola Resolves Unintended Redirect Issue Impacting Amazon App Users

Motorola recently addressed an unexpected behavior where some of its phones were directing users to an affiliate tracking website before launching the Amazon app. The company stated that this was unintentional and has since been rectified. However, they did not provide details on how the error occurred initially.

Allison Yi, Motorola’s executive director of product management, explained to The Verge that the issue was swiftly resolved after it was identified. Users in the US were experiencing a routing error when launching the Amazon Shopping app, resulting in an inconsistent user experience. The routing configuration was promptly corrected, ensuring that all installed apps now launch directly as intended.

The anomaly was initially brought to light by 9to5Google and a Reddit user who noticed that upon opening the Amazon app, the phone briefly accessed the browser before returning to Amazon. Users were redirected to a website seemingly linked to fashion influencer Kira Abboud, resulting in the installation of a tracking cookie and an affiliate code added to the shopping session.

While this code did not impact the end user directly, it could potentially allow the installer to receive a small percentage of any subsequent purchases. Motorola attributed the redirection to an app search and suggestion feature within the Moto App Launcher, developed in collaboration with Device Native.

Device Native, a company specializing in personalized mobile ad serving, was identified as the source of the routing issue. The company’s website, which previously listed documentation for its Motorola integration, has since been taken offline. Motorola emphasized its dedication to user privacy and platform integrity, pledging to monitor the system closely to ensure expected behavior across devices.