Motorola smartphones hijack shopping apps to make money from sales
Notebookcheck • • technology
Key Points:
- Motorola smartphones like the Edge 70 include a hidden system app called Motorola Smart Feed, which helps users discover news, apps, and games but also monitors internet activity.
- The app detects when shopping apps are opened and inserts affiliate codes, redirecting users through a web browser to generate commissions for Motorola on purchases without increasing prices.
- This behavior was confirmed by 9to5Google, showing that the Amazon app is effectively "hijacked" to include affiliate links, allowing Motorola to earn commissions while collecting user data without clear disclosure.
- The practice violates the terms of many affiliate programs and was introduced recently, as earlier versions of the Smart Feed app did not generate affiliate links.