Facebook Settles Ad Lawsuits With $40 Million over Claims of Inflated Video Views

[engine]

Facebook has settled a lawsuit by ad businesses where it was claimed Facebook inflated video views by 900%.
Facebook will pay $40 million to settle the class action lawsuit.

While it disputes the lawsuit, Facebook did admit in 2016 to inflating its average video viewing figures by only counting views that lasted longer than three seconds.

The settlement is focused on the advertisers, with 70% of the settlement earmarked for them (with the rest being reserved for attorney fees).

[fortune.com...]

[tangor]

Addressing errors in reporting is a good thing. Having to sue for it is extra work, but the settlement (which means there was no decision by a judge and jury) is some satisfaction ... though in FB's bottom line is only a slap on the wrist.

[RhinoFish]

Slap on the tip of the pinky toe nail... and not a slap, more like slowly dragging a fine silk cloth just close enough where the pinky toe might feel a very slight breeze...

[tangor]

@RhinoFish ... yes ... this is but a pin-prick to FB ... but of late there's a growing number of same (for all kinds of reasons) that has FB on the alert with 40 US State Attorney's looking into their operations. 2020 will be an interesting year for SM (fb in particular).

In this instance the only people who get a pay check are the lawyers. (sigh)

[engine]

I believe the amount reflects the difference between actual and inflated views. It's still a lot of money.