Motorola says recently discovered behavior on some of its phones, which routed users through an affiliate tracking link before opening the Amazon Shopping app, was “unintended” and has been “promptly corrected.” On affected devices, opening the Amazon app would briefly launch the browser to a site linked to fashion influencer Kira Abboud, install a tracking cookie, and add an affiliate code to the user's shopping session, before returning to Amazon. The affiliate code didn't change anything for the shopper, but could let whoever set it up collect a cut of any purchase. Motorola blamed the redirect on an app search feature co-developed with a partner called Device Native, whose site was queried in the background before the redirect. Motorola did not explain how the issue was introduced. The behavior was first spotted by a Reddit user and reported by 9to5Google.
