YouTube class action claims site inflates views, shows ads on ‘questionable’ websites

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YouTube class action lawsuit overview:

• Who: Plaintiffs Dashawn Williams and Devon Holmes have filed a class action lawsuit against Google LLC.
• Why: Google allegedly misrepresents the reach of its TrueView YouTube ads.
• Where: The YouTube class action lawsuit was filed in California federal court.

Google LLC is facing a class action lawsuit alleging it inflates purported views for businesses’ YouTube ads and shows the ads on “questionable” websites.

“If a video advertisement autoplays for a bot on an unlisted webpage, does anyone hear it?” the YouTube class action lawsuit asks. “According to Google, they do, and they charge advertisers hefty amounts for the privilege of autoplaying their advertisements into the void.”

Plaintiffs Dashawn Williams and Devon Holmes say they each paid Google to run ads for their businesses, but if they had known that Google’s representations about the qualities of YouTube ads was inaccurate, they would not have paid for Google’s services.

YouTube class action says Google misrepresents ad characteristics, overcharges advertisers

The class action lawsuit explains Google charges advertisers for its “TrueView” video ads, promising that the YouTube ads must be skippable and audible. Google also promises the YouTube ads cannot be played simply by a user’s passive scrolling.

“However, this is not true: many of the TrueView advertisements are, in fact, displayed as muted, auto-playing videos either ‘out-stream’ or obscured on independent sites,” the class action lawsuit says.

Google allegedly charges a premium price for the YouTube ads, promising that the ads will run on high-quality sites before the main video content, and that advertisers will only pay for ads that are not skipped.

The plaintiffs point to a recent report by ad campaign analytics firm Analytics, which found Google violates its promises for TrueView YouTube advertisements approximately 80% of the time.

They filed the YouTube class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a proposed class of advertisers who paid for TrueView in-stream ads. They seek to force Google to issue refunds for alleged overpayments for the YouTube ads.

A class action lawsuit filed last year alleged that Google and YouTube violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting, storing and using YouTube users’ biometric facial data without their knowledge or consent.

What do you think about the allegations in this class action lawsuit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!

The plaintiffs are represented by John J. Nelson and Greg M. Klinger of Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC and Kristen Lake Cardoso, Jeff Ostrow, Jonathan M. Streisfeld and Daniel Tropin of Kopelowitz Ostrow PA.

The YouTube ads class action lawsuit is Dashawn Williams, et al. v. Google LLC, Case No. 5:23-cv-03685, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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