On October 4, Facebook and a group of advertisers who purchased video ads on Facebook’s platforms filed a proposed class action settlement resolving a case that has been in litigation since 2016. The case concerns Facebook’s alleged overstating of average viewing times for video ads on the platform, causing advertisers to overpay for their ads. According to the lawsuit, Facebook discarded video views that lasted less than three seconds, thereby overstating the average video watch times by as much as 900 percent. The proposed settlement requires Facebook to pay $40 million, and allows all U.S. advertisers who bought video ads between February 12, 2015, and September 23, 2016, to participate in the settlement. Facebook’s reported practices are concerning to news publishers as they are entering into relationships with Facebook to license content for its News Tab, expected to be launched soon. Read more here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
