In a move to resolve a class action lawsuit, LinkedIn has agreed to pay $6.625 million over allegations of inflating video ad view metrics on its platform.
The settlement, filed in a federal court in San Jose, California, awaits approval from US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen, as per Reuters.
The lawsuit accused LinkedIn, a Microsoft subsidiary, of overcharging advertisers by counting video ad views even when the videos played off-screen as users scrolled past them.
Advertisers, including TopDevz from Sacramento and Noirefy from Chicago, led the case, claiming that LinkedIn's practices resulted in inflated metrics.
Although LinkedIn denied any wrongdoing, the company committed to hiring an external auditor for two years to review its ad metrics as part of the settlement agreement.
This lawsuit followed LinkedIn's disclosure in November 2020 that software bugs might have caused overcharges for more than 418,000 advertisers, with most overcharges being under $25. LinkedIn provided credits to nearly all affected advertisers at that time.
The settlement covers US advertisers who purchased ads on LinkedIn from January 2015 to May 2023. Advertisers' lawyers may request up to $1,656,250, or 25% of the settlement, for legal fees.
However, LinkedIn and Microsoft, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and Redmond, Washington, respectively, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
