Is it bad for seo to mask the affiliate links?

Question

Hello,
I am new to the affiliate world and I recently read this article from Yoast that suggests cloacking the affiliate links. My concern is that I have also read that cloacking is a black hat SEO technique used to deliver different results to users and search engines.
So what is your opinion? Is it ok to use it in order to provide more readable urls to users (as Yoast suggests) or should it be avoided since Google may see it as an attempt to manipulate the search results?

barryhunter · Accepted Answer

Well as such affiliate links SHOULDN'T be considered 'organic' links. (ie the are a form of paid link) 
 
... as such they kinda should be hidden from search engines.

In general cloaking them via robots.txt, is a bit archaic. It's far easier, simpler, and frankly more robust to simply use the rel attribute. Mark them as nofollow and/or sponsored. 
 
https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/qualify-outbound-links

barryhunter · Accepted Answer

Well that is something completely different. Having discernable names, on links, it nothing to do with it being affliate link really.

Probably should read https://web.dev/link-name/
(which might be where that Learn More link leads!)