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Filed July 27, 2009 in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, this ongoing class action is brought on behalf of advertisers on Facebook.com. With more than 200 million members, Facebook is the most popular social networking site. Facebook provides a forum that members use to set up and publish their personal web pages, including photos and other personal information, to family, friends and other Facebook users.
Facebook sells advertising in the form of small ads that pop up on members sites, providing a link that users can "click" on to reach the advertiser's web site. Because Facebook collects demographic and other personal information regarding users, ads are keyed to the particular keywords or characteristics desired by the advertiser. Advertisers can pay on an "impression" or "click-through" basis.
The complaint alleges that advertisers who have agreed to pay Facebook on a click-through basis have been overcharged by being forced to pay for fraudulent or non-existent clicks. As alleged in the June 21, 2009 edition of the Washington Post, some Facebook advertisers, mostly small businesses, have complained of being overcharged up to 100%. This translates into huge dollar amounts. In 2008, Facebook's revenues were $280 million, mostly from small-business advertisers. For 2009, Facebook is reported to have set an advertising revenue goal of $550 million.
Litigation Law Group is continuing to investigate the nature and extent of the Facebook fraudulent advertising problem. If you are a Facebook advertiser and are worried that you may have been overcharged, please contact us for further information, in confidence and without obligation. |