The biggest YouTube scam has just been revealed.

最大的 YouTube 騙局剛剛揭開。

Honey, one of the largest influencer scams.

親愛的，最大的影響力騙局之一。

This might just be the biggest influencer scam of all time.

這可能是有史以來最大的影響者騙局。

Honey has been revealed to be a complete scam.

蜂蜜被揭穿是一個徹頭徹尾的騙局。

The Coupon Mafia.

優惠券黑手黨

I think it's scummy as hell.

我覺得這太卑鄙了。

I hesitate to call it illegal because I just genuinely don't know.

我不敢說這是非法的，因為我真的不知道。

I need a legal legal video.

我需要一個合法的法律視頻。

And I think Honey should be sued for it.

我認為應該起訴哈尼。

I'm glad that everybody is now aware that Honey has a corrupt business model.

我很高興現在每個人都意識到，Honey 的商業模式是腐敗的。

Creators are saying that Honey is a scam.

創作者說《蜂蜜》是個騙局。

They believe that Honey steals from creators.

他們認為，《蜂蜜》竊取了創作者的成果。

So on behalf of creators everywhere, I have filed a class action lawsuit to stop it.

是以，我代表世界各地的創作者提起集體訴訟，以阻止這種行為。

So how did we get here?

我們是怎麼來到這裡的？

Well, as you probably know, the entire creator economy works on affiliate links.

嗯，你可能知道，整個創作者經濟都依賴於聯盟鏈接。

The question that everyone on the internet wants to know when you're making a purchase is how did you get here?

當您購物時，互聯網上的每個人都想知道一個問題：您是如何來到這裡的？

Honey allegedly interjects itself into that chain, erases all the past history and says, I'm the one responsible.

據稱，蜂蜜插進了這個鏈條，抹去了所有過去的歷史，並說，我才是那個該負責任的人。

Often harming consumers in the process by replacing a coupon or discount code with a Honey related code.

在此過程中，往往會用與蜂蜜相關的代碼替換優惠券或折扣代碼，從而損害消費者的利益。

Go to every computer in your house, your mom's, your dad's, your sister, your brother's computer and install Honey.

到家裡的每臺電腦上，包括媽媽、爸爸、姐姐、弟弟的電腦上，安裝 Honey。

And while this is true, the consumers would be harmed by this practice.

雖然這是事實，但這種做法會損害消費者的利益。

Creators are getting absolutely screwed.

創作者絕對被坑了。

Let's say you're at a department store looking to buy a new TV.

假設您正在百貨公司選購一臺新電視機。

A salesman spends time running you through your options.

銷售員會花時間向你介紹各種選擇。

You decide to buy.

您決定購買。

He gives you his referral card.

他給了你他的推薦卡。

You get to the checkout and right as you're about to pay, a sleazy salesman pops up going, Hey, shall I check if I have any coupon codes for you?

你去結賬，就在你準備付錢的時候，一個奸詐的售貨員冒了出來："嘿，要不要我幫你看看有沒有優惠券代碼？

Naturally, you say, sure.

你自然會說，當然可以。

He snatches your referral card without you ever noticing, looks for coupons, says, sorry, no luck this time.

他在你毫無察覺的情況下搶走你的推薦卡，尋找優惠券，然後說，對不起，這次運氣不好。

But instead of handing back the original referral card, he hands back his own.

但他沒有交回原來的推薦卡，而是交回了自己的推薦卡。

It's free money, they say.

他們說，這是免費的錢。

But we believe that nothing could be further from the truth.

但我們相信，事實並非如此。

Unfortunately, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

遺憾的是，天下沒有免費的午餐。

We believe that money came right out of the pockets of your favorite YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagrammers, podcasts, and bloggers.

我們相信，這些錢就是從你們最喜愛的 YouTubers、TikTokers、Instagramer、播客和博主的口袋裡掏出來的。

Now, you might have seen Megalag's expose.

現在，你們可能已經看到了 Megalag 的曝光。

It's incredible.

太不可思議了

You should absolutely support him on Patreon.

你絕對應該在 Patreon 上支持他。

Link in the description.

說明中的鏈接。

But that's just the tip of the iceberg.

但這只是冰山一角。

I want to dig deeper because this is something that could affect every creator and influencer on every platform.

我想深入探討一下，因為這可能會影響到每個平臺上的每個創作者和有影響力的人。

And I mean everyone.

我是說每個人。

Creators, viewers, advertisers, even the companies that provide goods and services.

創作者、觀眾、廣告商，甚至提供商品和服務的公司。

Now, as you probably know, making videos or posts can be an expensive endeavor.

現在，大家可能都知道，製作視頻或帖子可能是一項昂貴的工作。

And when you think about it, it's kind of incredible that platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok are free.

仔細想想，YouTube、Instagram、Snapchat 和 TikTok 等平臺都是免費的，這實在令人難以置信。

And they can afford to be so because they rely on advertising.

而它們之所以有能力這樣做，是因為它們依賴於廣告。

Now, that might come in the form of programmatic ads that are interjected while you're watching, or it might come from a sponsorship provided by the actual creator that you're watching or listening to.

現在，這些廣告可能是在你觀看節目時插播的程序化廣告，也可能是你正在收看或收聽的實際創作者提供的贊助。

And if a creator runs a sponsorship or has an affiliate relationship, they'll probably tell you to do one of two things.

如果創作者有贊助或聯盟關係，他們可能會告訴你做兩件事中的一件。

Either click on the link in the description or the comments, or use their promo code.

點擊描述或評論中的鏈接，或使用促銷代碼。

You, the audience member, probably get a nice discount.

你，觀眾，可能會得到一個不錯的折扣。

And the creator gets credit for sending that customer.

而創作者也會因為向客戶發送信息而獲得獎勵。

This is attribution, as we call it in the biz.

這就是我們行內所說的 "歸因"。

And if you end up buying that thing, the creator might get a percentage, a commission, a flat fee, or if enough people sign up, they might get another sponsorship in the future.

如果你最終購買了這個東西，創作者可能會獲得一定比例的提成、佣金或固定費用，或者如果有足夠多的人註冊，他們可能會在未來獲得另一項贊助。

And in all of those cases, everything depends on knowing how many people signed up because of that creator.

而在所有這些情況下，一切都取決於知道有多少人因為該創作者而註冊。

And when you click on that link or use the creator's promo code, the brand knows where you came from and who sent you.

當你點擊鏈接或使用創作者的促銷代碼時，品牌就會知道你從哪裡來，是誰派你來的。

At least, that's the way that it's supposed to work.

至少，事情應該是這樣的。

Honey allegedly built their business on breaking that chain.

據稱，"蜂蜜 "公司的業務就是建立在打破這一鏈條上的。

As Megalag and others have explained, and as we aver, Honey interjects itself at the last possible moment and erases evidence of the real person who was responsible and takes credit.

正如 Megalag 和其他人所解釋的那樣，也正如我們所知道的那樣，"蜜糖 "會在最後一刻插手，抹去真正責任人的證據，並將功勞據為己有。

It looks like Honey opens up a new tab or refreshes the checkout page and replaces the creator's information with Honey's information, and most importantly, Honey's attribution codes.

看起來，Honey 會打開一個新的標籤頁或刷新結賬頁面，並用 Honey 的資訊取代創作者的資訊，最重要的是 Honey 的歸屬代碼。

The creator gets nothing.

創作者什麼也得不到。

We believe that Honey pockets that money that would have otherwise gone to the creator.

我們相信，Honey 會把這些本該歸創作者所有的錢收入囊中。

Imagine if you're listening to a podcast.

想象一下，如果您正在收聽播客。

You actually can't really click on a link, so the only way that they can get attribution is by a listener using their promo code.

實際上，你無法真正點擊鏈接，所以他們獲得歸屬的唯一途徑就是聽眾使用他們的促銷代碼。

But we believe that even if you use the creator's code, if you also used Honey at the same time, Honey likely replaced that promo code with their own.

但我們相信，即使您使用了創建者的代碼，如果您同時還使用了 Honey 的代碼，Honey 很可能會用他們自己的代碼替換該促銷代碼。

But it's not just sponsorships.

但不僅僅是贊助。

When you click on a programmatic ad, you know, those skippable or unskippable ads that just get shoved into a video you're watching or interjected to the feed that you're scrolling through, well, those have tracking links too.

當你點擊程序化廣告時，你知道，那些可跳過或不可跳過的廣告會被塞進你正在觀看的視頻中，或插播到你正在滾動瀏覽的 feed 中，這些廣告也有跟蹤鏈接。

Those often contain exactly the same kind of affiliate data.

這些數據通常包含完全相同的關聯數據。

Again, the companies want to know where you came from.

同樣，公司也想知道你從哪裡來。

They want to know which ads are effective and which creator's audience is a good fit for them.

他們想知道哪些廣告有效，哪些創作者的閱聽人適合他們。

Different creators receive a different amount of money per view depending on their personality and the makeup of their audience.

根據創作者的個性和閱聽人的構成，不同的創作者每次觀看獲得的收入也不同。

But once again, if you click on one of those ads and use an extension like Honey, Honey will allegedly come in at the last second and destroy attribution, taking credit and pocketing the money.

但同樣，如果你點擊了其中一個廣告，並使用了 Honey 等擴展程序，Honey 據說會在最後一秒介入並破壞歸因，搶走功勞並將錢收入囊中。

And at the same time, Honey appears to market itself as a way to save consumers additional money, but that doesn't appear to be the case.

與此同時，《蜂蜜》似乎在推銷自己能為消費者節省更多的錢，但事實似乎並非如此。

We believe that Honey unjustly enriches itself by swapping creator attribution under the guise of a coupon check, even when it's unable to provide any additional value to the consumer or when there are no coupons.

我們認為，《蜂蜜》打著優惠券支票的幌子，甚至在無法為消費者提供任何額外價值或沒有優惠券的情況下，交換創作者的歸屬權，從而使自己不當得利。

I believe that Honey lied to consumers about what it offered.

我認為，Honey 在提供的產品方面欺騙了消費者。

And I believe that Honey lied to creators about what it was doing.

我相信，"蜜糖 "在它所做的事情上對創作者撒了謊。

And perhaps the worst part about all of this is that Honey, now owned by PayPal, allegedly made creators the unwitting accomplices in stealing from their own pocketbooks.

也許最糟糕的是，現在歸 PayPal 所有的 Honey 據說讓創作者在不知情的情況下成了從自己腰包裡偷錢的幫凶。

Think about how insidious this all was.

想想這一切是多麼陰險。

Honey spent tens of millions of dollars, maybe even hundreds of millions of dollars, sponsoring some of the most beloved and successful creators on the planet.

蜂蜜公司花費數千萬美元，甚至數億美元，贊助了地球上最受喜愛和最成功的創作者。

Honey allegedly seeded those audiences with their extension.

據稱，"蜂蜜 "為這些閱聽人播下了延伸的種子。

And that extension probably stayed on their audience's browsers like a sleeping leech, waiting for the viewer to conduct a transaction.

而這種擴展可能就像沉睡的水蛭一樣，停留在閱聽人的瀏覽器上，等待著瀏覽者進行交易。

And thus, forever after, the creators' future sponsorships and future affiliate relationships and advertisements were devalued now that the creator's audience was infected.

這樣，創作者未來的贊助、未來的聯盟關係和廣告就永遠貶值了，因為創作者的閱聽人受到了感染。

The exact people who would be most likely to listen to the recommendations of that creator, which, by the way, is the reason that it's so important for creators to vet their sponsors and make sure that they believe in the products, were now likely to be sniped.

順便說一句，這也是創作者必須審查贊助商並確保他們相信產品的原因，而現在最有可能聽取創作者建議的人卻有可能被狙擊。

Whenever those viewers or listeners clicked on the creator's link or used the creator's promo code, Honey would allegedly swoop in and steal the attribution.

據稱，每當這些觀眾或聽眾點擊創作者的鏈接或使用創作者的促銷代碼時，哈尼就會突然襲擊，竊取歸屬權。

We believe that PayPal's Honey is a drag on the entire creator economy.

我們認為，PayPal 的《蜂蜜》拖累了整個創造者經濟。

If you're a creator and you've ever used an affiliate link, run a sponsorship, or allowed ads, we believe it's possible that Honey has interjected itself and parasitically taken away your attribution.

如果你是創作者，並且曾經使用過聯盟鏈接、贊助或允許廣告，我們認為蜜糖有可能已經介入，並寄生在你身上，奪走了你的署名權。

Even if you've never even heard of Honey until now, advertisers spent 30 billion dollars on advertising on YouTube AdSense alone in 2023.

即使你到現在都沒聽說過 Honey，2023 年，廣告商僅在 YouTube AdSense 上的廣告費用就高達 300 億美元。

Presumably, those companies made a lot more revenue than they spent on advertising.

據推測，這些公司的收入比廣告支出要多得多。

But how many billions of that went to Honey?

但其中有多少億是給了蜂蜜？

I'm honestly surprised that extensions like Honey, Karma, Capital One Shopping, and Pi are even allowed on the Apple App Store or the Google Extension Marketplace.

老實說，我很驚訝像 Honey、Karma、Capital One Shopping 和 Pi 這樣的擴展竟然可以在蘋果應用商店或谷歌擴展市場上銷售。

So I say, enough is enough.

所以我說，夠了夠了。

It's time to put my money where my mouth is.

是時候把錢花在刀刃上了。

So I, along with some other great attorneys, filed suit on behalf of all creators and businesses who have been harmed by Honey PayPal.

是以，我與其他幾位出色的律師一起，代表所有受到 Honey PayPal 傷害的創作者和企業提起訴訟。

Because there are so many people, we filed a class action lawsuit seeking damages in the form of the money that we believe Honey prevented from reaching creators so we can give it back to creators.

由於人數眾多，我們提起了集體訴訟，要求以損害賠償的形式，將我們認為蜜糖阻止創作者獲得的資金還給創作者。

And equally important, we're suing for an injunction to stop Honey's practices in the future.

同樣重要的是，我們正在申請禁令，以阻止哈尼今後的做法。

If you're a creator or a business who thinks that they've been harmed by Honey, please reach out to my law firm by either going to honeylawsuit.com or by reaching out via email at honeycaseateagleteam.law.

如果你是創作者或企業，認為自己受到了 Honey 的傷害，請訪問 honeylawsuit.com，或發送電子郵件至 honeycaseateagleteam.law，與我的律師事務所聯繫。

We wanna hear from you.

我們想聽聽你的意見。

This isn't only about people who ran a Honey sponsorship, but rather anyone who might've had their attribution taken by Honey.

這不僅是指那些參加了 Honey 贊助活動的人，而是指任何可能被 Honey 搶走贊助權的人。

We believe that things like running a promo code, affiliate link, or tracking tag is enough to be caught in their web.

我們認為，只要運行促銷代碼、聯盟鏈接或跟蹤標籤，就足以被他們抓住。

And finally, Honey PayPal, I will see you in court.

最後，親愛的貝寶，我們法庭上見。