Thoughts on the Honey scam 🍯

If I do my job to my employer's satisfaction, are they becoming more successful at harming their audience?

Today I found a video from one of my favorite Youtube content creators apologizing for the role they unwittingly played in promoting the Chrome extension, Honey. I've used Honey and extensions like it for years, believing that I was accessing available coupons without having to search for them myself while contributing a referral and exposure to creators I believe in. However, the revelation that Honey has been using their app to take millions of dollars from the pockets of their own affiliates and their affiliate audiences hits hard for a variety of professional and personal reasons.

My concerns are not raised solely from being a former Honey user. They're also focused on design's role in the duplicity of this company. In my professional career, I've learned how powerful a tool that design can be, which includes the option to create, soften, or obscure harmful business practices that produce long-term damage to the target audience and/or humanity at large. It is this understanding that has placed me on a very taut wire in searching not just for my next position but also researching the net positive or negative impact that the company offering the role has on their audience.

Basically, if I do my job to my employer's satisfaction, are they becoming more successful at harming their audience?

My desire to find roles in companies that have an overall neutral to positive impact on society has resulted in positions that I love working in along with the understanding that the design tools I use to aid in audience communication, understanding, and engagement are being put to good use.