Facebook Class Action Lawsuit Says Ad ‘Reach’ is Inflated

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Online advertisers have hit Facebook with a class action lawsuit claiming the company misrepresents the supposed reach of ads on the social media site by inflating those numbers by millions of users.

Lead plaintiffs, Holly Dean and Lauren Meyers, allege in their class action lawsuit that the social media giant touts their ad service by telling potential ad buyers that they will be able to tailor the “reach” of their Facebook ads based on their intended audience.

“Advertisers choose their objective (e.g., boost their posts, promote their page, and, craft their intended audience) based on demographics, behaviors, or contact information provided by Facebook through Facebook’s Self-Serve Advertising (‘Self-Serve Ads’) interface,” explains the Facebook ads class action lawsuit.

According to the plaintiffs, “reach refers to the total number of different people or households exposed, at least once, to a medium during a given period.”

The Facebook class action lawsuit states that Facebook touts their ability to get marketing messages to a certain number of people, however, in actuality the reach of those ads are much lower than online advertisers are told.

In fact, according to the Facebook advertising class action lawsuit, a Pew report directly contradicts the number of Facebook users in the United States with the number of users Facebook tells online advertisers it can reach – by approximately 50 million.

The plaintiffs, Florida and California residents, say they were duped by Facebook’s advertising claims when they attempted to use the platform.

They say that they and other advertisers had little control over the dissemination of their own ads when they used Facebook’s marketing tools and had no ability to access meaningful data about the effectiveness of those ads.

“Throughout the process, Facebook misleads Advertisers into believing that they have the ability to target a specified number of people in the ad set (‘Potential Reach’) and will reach a number of Facebook users on any given day as estimated by Facebook, within a prominently displayed numerical range. (‘Estimated Reach’),” alleges the Facebook ad reach class action lawsuit.

The Facebook class action lawsuit alleges that Facebook intentionally confuses the less sophisticated online advertisers that use its system by using inflated reach numbers.

Further, the plaintiffs say the social media powerhouse “preys” on these small-time advertisers “by describing the Advertisement process with jargon that is not sufficiently explained or readily understandable by Advertisers, by formulating and displaying lower and more realistic post-campaign Results.”

In addition, the Facebook advertising class action lawsuit alleges that advertisers are not provided a way to review the “overstated” reach numbers provided by Facebook or actually compare them to real results.

“Through these false, deceptive, and misleading written representations by Facebook regarding its Potential Reach and Estimated Reach, and engendering false expectations, Facebook yields windfall profits since substantially all of its revenue is generated through its advertising platform,” contends the Facebook ad reach class action lawsuit. “As of 2018, Facebook continues to generate profits, increase its number of overall users and daily active users, and maintain large cash reserves.”

The plaintiffs seek to represent a nationwide Class of online advertisers who placed an ad on Facebook using its interface from 2013 until the present, along with a California subclass.

The lead plaintiffs are represented by Reuben D. Nathan of Nathan & Associates APC.

The Facebook Advertising Reach Class Action Lawsuit is Dean, et al. v. Facebook Inc., Case No. Case 3:18-cv-06391, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.