Facebook scandal: The social network deliberately lied to advertisers
2021-02-21
2021-02-21
21.02.2021,
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Mark Zuckerberg’s company is said to have deliberately lied to advertisers to increase profits.
Facebook is once again at the center of a scandal. At the moment, this is not a question of a new security breach or misuse of the personal data of its users, but rather a lie aimed at increasing its profitability. According to several legal documents consulted by the Financial Times, Mark Zuckerberg’s company has deliberately raised potential audience ratings over the years to reassure advertisers about the effectiveness of targeted advertising campaigns on its platform in order to maximize its profits.
According to an employee of the social network, it was almost impossible to achieve because Facebook had so many announced visitors. Potentile Reach, a tool used to measure audiences for targeted advertising campaigns, has been questioned. “Facebook knew that their potential reach was high and deceiving. (…) Facebook knew that this issue was often caused by fake accounts and copies. (…) Administrators prevented employees from fixing the problem because they believed the” revenue impact would be (significant “).
The main interested party reacted quickly. Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne said the potential Reach tool only provided advertisers with a simple audience rating. “We clearly explain how this is calculated in our advertising interface. This advertising campaign planning tool is never used to bill advertisers,” the US company says.
However, this is not the first time Facebook has been accused of boosting its numbers. The social network has already been the subject of a complaint for knowingly exaggerating the number of videos its users are viewing, thus forcing media and brands to invest in the production of videos.
Publishing these legal documents is coming at a difficult time for Facebook. The social network has actually been involved in the war against Apple since the latter announced that the apps offered in the App Store should alert their users in a way that gathers information about them outside of their app. They should allow users who do not like Facebook to refuse to follow.
Media Congo Jennifer Mertens
Jennifer Mertens
Kigo / MCP, via MediaCongo.net
