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US judge dismisses claims that LinkedIn overcharged advertisers

In a decision on Monday, US Magistrate Judge Susan van
Keulen said that while some LinkedIn statements may have been misleading, the
plaintiffs failed to show their legal remedies were inadequate before suing
under two California laws that offered only equitable relief such as
restitution.

The San Jose, California-based judge also said LinkedIn had
no implied duty to provide “accurate ad metrics,” citing its
disclaimer that it was not responsible for click fraud or illicit third-party
activity that could affect ad costs.

Advertisers in the proposed class action accused LinkedIn of
inflating its metrics by counting video ad “views” from users’
LinkedIn apps, even when videos played only off-screen because users scrolled
past them.

The lawsuit began after LinkedIn said in November 2020 that
its engineers had fixed software bugs that may have led to more than 418,000
overcharges, most under $25. LinkedIn said it provided credits to virtually all
affected advertisers.

Judge van Keulen had in August dismissed some of the
advertisers’ claims while letting others proceed.

Monday’s dismissal was with prejudice, meaning the lawsuit
led by advertisers TopDevz Inc of Sacramento, California, and Noirefy Inc of
Chicago cannot be brought again. LinkedIn is based in Sunnyvale, California.

Lawyers for the advertisers did not immediately respond on
Tuesday to requests for comment. LinkedIn and its lawyers did not immediately
respond to similar requests.

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The case is In re LinkedIn Advertising Metrics Litigation,
US District Court, Northern District of California, No 20-08324.

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