The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear Meta Platforms' appeal regarding a class action lawsuit from advertisers who accuse the company of inflating ad reach and overcharging for advertisements on Facebook and Instagram. The lower court's decision allows advertisers to seek damages collectively, with claims potentially exceeding $7 billion. A panel from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Meta's alleged misrepresentation about ad reach could be proven as a common issue affecting all advertisers involved.
Plaintiffs, including former Meta advertisers DZ Reserve and Cain Maxwell, argue that Meta's focus on social media account numbers misled them about actual viewer counts, with claims of overestimations by as much as 400%. The class action encompasses millions of advertisers since August 15, 2014. Meta contends that the "common course of conduct" test used by the 9th Circuit has been rejected by other federal appeals courts and that it does not account for individual advertiser experiences. Ads constitute the majority of Meta's revenue, which reached $116.1 billion in the first nine months of 2024.
