Cybersecurity
Facebook Accused of Hiding Inflated Ad Metrics Back in 2015
- Company didn’t disclose video advertising error until 2016
- Fraud allegations are added to lawsuit in Oakland, California
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Facebook Inc. knew in early 2015 that it misled advertisers about the average time users spent viewing online video clips -- and then lied about it, according to a lawsuit.
The owner of the world’s largest social network acknowledged in September 2016 that it had inflated the metric for marketers, and said it fixed its calculations. Crowd Siren, the online marketing agency that sued over the misrepresentations, now claims that Facebook knew as early as 2015 that it was over-reporting the figures.