A federal judge in the United States rejected a case claiming Microsoft’s LinkedIn of misrepresenting the number of individuals who watched video advertising in order for the networking platform to overcharge hundreds of thousands of advertisers.
In a judgement, US Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen stated that, while some LinkedIn representations may have been deceptive, the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate that their legal remedies were insufficient before suing under two California statutes that only provided equitable remedy such as restitution.
The judge in San Jose, California, also ruled that LinkedIn had no implicit responsibility to deliver “correct ad analytics,” noting the company’s warning that it was not liable for click fraud or illegal third-party behaviour that may influence ad pricing.
Advertisers in the proposed class action accused LinkedIn of inflating its analytics by collecting video ad “views” from users’ LinkedIn applications, even when ads were only played off-screen because users scrolled past them.
The case began after LinkedIn said in November 2020 that its engineers had resolved software vulnerabilities that may have resulted in more than 418,000 overcharges, the most of which were less than $25.
LinkedIn stated that it has offered credits to nearly all impacted advertisers.
In August, Judge van Keulen rejected some of the marketers’ claims while allowing others to proceed.
The action, which was brought by marketers TopDevz of Sacramento, California, and Noirefy of Chicago, was dismissed with prejudice, which means it cannot be raised again.
LinkedIn’s headquarters are in Sunnyvale, California.
Advertisers’ lawyers did not immediately reply to demands for comment.
Similar inquiries were not immediately responded to by LinkedIn or its lawyers.