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Facebook Fined For Artificially Inflating Video Views, Bankrupting Companies, Mass Job Losses
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They lied about views by 150 to 900%. They caused media companies to go bankrupt, jobs were lost, and yet Facebook gets away with a slap on the wrist and no acknowledgement of how they messed up.
And therein lies the problem for which Facebook was fined this week. The Hollywood Reporter:
Faced with claims of violating unfair competition law, breaching contract and committing fraud, Facebook contested advertisers' injuries, questioning whether they really relied on these metrics in deciding to purchase ad time. In early rounds in the litigation, Facebook was successful in getting the judge to pare the claims, though until a settlement was announced, several of the claims including fraud were still live. Even after agreeing to pay $40 million for settlement, Facebook maintains the suit is "without merit."
Let's be clear, $40 million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but it's really only about 0.18% of their annual income. A drop in the bucket. And again, they'll shell out that money without acknowledging any responsibility or culpability, the primary characteristic of Mark Zuckerberg. And this flat out fraud has hurt other companies, some of them to the ground.
And therein lies the problem for which Facebook was fined this week. The Hollywood Reporter:
The suit accused Facebook of acknowledging miscalculations in metrics upon press reports, but still not taking responsibility for the breadth of the problem. "The average viewership metrics were not inflated by only 60%-80%; they were inflated by some 150 to 900%," stated an amended complaint.
Faced with claims of violating unfair competition law, breaching contract and committing fraud, Facebook contested advertisers' injuries, questioning whether they really relied on these metrics in deciding to purchase ad time. In early rounds in the litigation, Facebook was successful in getting the judge to pare the claims, though until a settlement was announced, several of the claims including fraud were still live. Even after agreeing to pay $40 million for settlement, Facebook maintains the suit is "without merit."
Let's be clear, $40 million dollars sounds like a lot of money, but it's really only about 0.18% of their annual income. A drop in the bucket. And again, they'll shell out that money without acknowledging any responsibility or culpability, the primary characteristic of Mark Zuckerberg. And this flat out fraud has hurt other companies, some of them to the ground.
Adam Conover
?Verified account @adamconover
Adam Conover Retweeted Scott Galloway
My former employer CollegeHumor did this. In order to beat YouTube, Facebook faked incredible viewership numbers, so CH pivoted to FB. So did Funny or Die, many others. The result: A once-thriving online comedy industry was decimated. A $40m fine is laughable; shut Facebook down.Link to tweet
Adam Conover goes to show how Facebook trashed College Humor by misrepresenting views to over-inflate bills.
Check out the rest of the article here: https://crooksandliars.com/2019/10/facebook-fined-artificially-inflating
I wonder if they are doing that with others who run private or small business Facebook ads.
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