Facebook Lured Advertisers By Inflating Ad-watch Times Up To 900 Percent

Zorro shares a report from The Mercury News: Not only did Facebook inflate ad-watching metrics by up to 900 percent (Warning: source may be paywalled, alternative source), it knew for more than a year that its average-viewership estimates were wrong and kept quiet about it, a new legal filing claims. A group of small advertisers suing the Menlo Park social media titan alleged in the filing that Facebook 'induced' advertisers to buy video ads on its platform because advertisers believed Facebook users were watching video ads for longer than they actually were. That 'unethical, unscrupulous' behavior by Facebook constituted fraud because it was 'likely to deceive' advertisers, the filing alleged. The latest allegations arose out of a lawsuit that the advertisers filed against Mark Zuckerberg-led Facebook in federal court in 2016 over alleged inflation of ad-watching metrics. 'Suggestions that we in any way tried to hide this issue from our partners are false,' the company told The Wall Street Journal. 'We told our customers about the error when we discovered it -- and updated our help center to explain the issue.' 'The plaintiffs are seeking class-action status to bring other advertisers into the legal action, plus unspecified damages,' reports The Mercury News. 'They also want the court to order a third-party audit of Facebook's video-ad metrics.'

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