Motorola Clarifies That Amazon App Affiliate Hijacking Was Accidental

Motorola has acknowledged a recent issue where some of its phones were unintentionally redirecting users to an affiliate tracking site before launching the Amazon app. The company has stated that this behavior has been swiftly addressed, although it hasn’t clarified how the problem originated.

Allison Yi, Motorola’s executive director of product management, explained that the company acted quickly to fix the problem that caused some users in the US to be routed through a web tracking link when opening the Amazon Shopping app. “This behavior was unintended and resulted in an inconsistent user experience,” she noted. “Upon identifying the issue, we promptly corrected the routing configuration. Users can now expect all installed apps to launch directly as intended.”

The situation first came to light when a Reddit user reported it, and it was later covered by an outlet. Users noticed that when they opened the Amazon app, their phones would briefly launch the browser before redirecting them back to Amazon. Interestingly, the redirect led to a site associated with fashion influencer Kira Abboud, although her other pages do not mention it. This brief visit was enough to install a tracking cookie, which added an affiliate code to the user’s shopping session, though it did not correspond to any of Abboud’s other content.

While the code itself wouldn’t directly impact users, it could allow the entity behind it to earn a small commission on any purchases made. The outlet notes that it uses similar Amazon affiliate links for its shopping content, but always with clear disclaimers, unlike this covert installation.

Yi attributed the redirect issue to a feature related to the Moto App Launcher, which was developed in collaboration with Device Native. It was this company’s website that the Reddit user noticed was being accessed behind the scenes before users were sent to the affiliate site. Device Native claims to provide “personalized, on-device mobile ad serving without sharing user data.” Interestingly, until recently, Device Native had a public page detailing its integration with Motorola, but that page has since been removed, although a copy exists in the Internet Archive.

Motorola has not commented on how this issue arose or whether Device Native played a role, but it has reiterated its commitment to user privacy. “Motorola takes user experience, privacy, and platform integrity seriously and will continue to closely monitor the system to ensure expected behavior across devices,” Yi stated.