Meta reportedly inflated an advertising metric for its “Shop Ads” by nearly 20%, according to documents lodged in a UK court.
The allegation, including that Meta bypassed privacy rules on iPhones to increase revenue, was made by a former staff member, product manager Samujjal Purkayastha.
The claims are made to the Central London Employment Tribunal in an unfair dismissal case.
The social media platform is alleged to have used gross rather than net sales figures, excluding the value of shipping and taxes.
“He claimed Meta was aware of the discrepancy but failed to disclose it to brands, alleging that an internal investigation had found that the performance of Shops Ads had been inflated by between 17% and 19%,” the Financial Times reported.
“Meta also secretly linked user data with other information to track users’ activity on other websites without their permission — despite Apple in 2021 introducing measures explicitly requiring consent, according to Purkayastha’s filings.”
Meta is actively defending proceedings and said that allegations on the integrity of advertising practices are without merit.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.