LinkShare has announced a new platform - Athena - that includes a validation tool to weed out phony affiliates and help merchants keep track of their affiliates and prevent falsified data and click fraud, reports Internet News. Athena tracks, manages and analyzes the performance of affiliate programs, search advertising and email marketing. It also provides account management services for merchants' affiliate programs.

In June, 77 percent of the 50 fastest-growing online retailers ran affiliate-marketing programs, according to LinkShare competitor Commission Junction.