OAKLAND, Calif. (Legal Newsline) – A Kansas business owner alleges Facebook overstates the reach of its advertisements.
Danielle A. Singer and Project Therapy LLC, doing business as Therapy Threads, filed a complaint on behalf of others similarly situated on Aug. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against Facebook Inc. alleging violation of the California Unfair Competition Law and other counts.
According to the complaint, Singer resides in Kansas and owns and operates Project Therapy, which sells aromatherapy fashion wear. She alleges she ran advertising campaigns on Facebook between October 2013 and April 2018 and spent more than $14,000. She alleges the defendant misrepresents the potential reach of its advertisements and inflates these numbers.
The plaintiffs hold Facebook Inc. responsible because she alleges the social media company deceived class members into believing advertisements could reach more people than they actually could.
The plaintiffs request a trial by jury and seek an order requiring Facebook to engage third-party auditors to conduct audits and evaluations of Facebook’s purported user base and its potential reach and ordering it to promptly correct any problems or issues detected by these auditors, and requiring Facebook to disclose any further inaccuracies with respect to its user base in a timely and accurate manner. The plaintiffs also request damages, restitution, attorneys’ fees, statutory costs, and such other and further relief as is just and proper.
They are represented by Andrew N. Friedman, Geoffrey Graber, Eric Kafka and Julia Horwitz of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC in Washington, D.C.; and Charles Reichman of Law Offices of Charles Reichman in Kensington, California.
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California case number 4:18-cv-04978-KAW