Facebook agreed to pay a $40 million penalty for providing incorrect metrics for average viewing time of ads on its platform. In 2016, Facebook admitted to the problem, and a group of small advertisers sued in California federal court, in part claiming that Facebook knew about the problem long before it admitted and fixed it. Facebook countered the impact was minimal because it doesn’t bill advertisers based on watch-time; plaintiffs disagreed, saying it is a “common indirect barometer to guide ad-buying decisions.” Continue reading Facebook Agrees to $40 Million Fine for Incorrect Ad Metrics

Advertisers filed suit in a federal district court in California charging Facebook with knowing about a measurement error a year before acknowledging it in 2016. Facebook admitted that it had been overstating the average time users spent watching videos then, but the suit claims that the company knew about the error in 2015. The error also impacted U.S. newsrooms, which laid off reporters in order to prioritize video over written stories. In fact, in 2015, Facebook began putting its Live videos higher up in News Feed. Continue reading Advertisers Charge Facebook Hid Metrics Error for One Year