LinkedIn has reportedly agreed to pay $6.625 million to resolve a proposed class action alleging that the Microsoft Corporation MSFT unit inflated video ad view counts to overcharge advertisers.
A preliminary settlement was filed late Thursday in federal court in San Jose, California, and is pending approval by U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, Reuters reported.
LinkedIn denied any wrongdoing but agreed to make reasonable efforts for two years to hire an external auditor to review its ad metrics.
Advertisers, including TopDevz of Sacramento and Noirefy of Chicago, accused LinkedIn of inflating ad metrics by counting video ad “views” from users’ LinkedIn apps, even if the videos played off-screen as users scrolled past.
The lawsuit was filed shortly after LinkedIn revealed in November 2020 that software bugs had been fixed, which had caused over 418,000 potential overcharges, mostly under $25, Reuters added.
Judge van Keulen dismissed the lawsuit in December 2021, and although the advertisers appealed, they paused the appeal to allow for mediation. The advertisers’ lawyers may request up to $1.656 million, or 25% of the settlement amount, for legal fees.
The case is In re LinkedIn Advertising Metrics Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 20-08324, Reuters added.
Price Action: MSFT shares are trading higher by 2.16% to $427.44 at last check Friday.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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