Tag: Hoaxed

Do you ever wonder if anything is on the level? Sometimes when you look below the surface, things turn out to be kayfabe, to borrow that professional wrestling slang.

In the social media context, Big Tech including Facebook has repeatedly denied it is censoring right-of-center thought despite evidence otherwise.

Now it appears that Facebook, a platform that some have derisively nicknamed Fakebook, may have drastically inflated its audience metrics.

From CNBC:

“Facebook knew that it was providing inaccurate data on ad viewership for over a year before telling clients in 2016, according to an updated lawsuit filed on Tuesday. And the problem was much worse than what Facebook reported. In September 2016, Facebook admitted the that it overestimated video ad viewing time averages by up to 60 percent to 80 percent for two years because of a calculation error. According to the lawsuit, which a group of small social media agencies and marketing consultants initially filed in a California court October 2016, Facebook wasn’t sharing the whole picture. The plaintiffs claim that Facebook inflated ad viewing time averages by 150 percent to 900 percent, much higher than reported. When Facebook discovered the issue, it stalled fixing it for more than a year while it came up with a plan to make it seem like it wasn’t a big problem, the lawsuit says.”

Author, filmmaker, and journalist Mike Cernovich, who says he spent six figures  to beef up his Facebook video presence but without much return in terms of conversion (i.e., moving product to followers) despite “millions of views,” says he is bringing his own lawsuit against the massive social network.

“I spent over $100,000 on video for my Facebook page based on the false viewer numbers Facebook provided. This is civil fraud and my lawsuit will be filed shortly. I will also be filing a complaint with the [Federal Trade Commission],” Cernovich wrote on Twitter.

Anyone who invested in a multi media team with Facebook has a lawsuit. Strong ones. California law is the strictest in the country for civil fraud.

I even expect Buzzfeed and other outlets to sue. These are big money cases for the lawyers involved, too. https://t.co/9bl9l8nQw6 read more