United States of America: Issued ruling in civil lawsuit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation of “potential reach” of advertisements on Meta (DZ Reserve v Meta)

On 21 March 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a ruling in the lawsuit civil lawsuit alleging fraudulent misrepresentation of the “potential reach” of advertisements on Meta (DZ Reserve v Meta). The court ruled that Meta Platforms must face a class action lawsuit from advertisers that brought the case before the court. The advertisers alleged that Meta misrepresented the potential reach of their advertisements, overcharging the entities paying for the ads. The court allowed the damages class to proceed, highlighting the common course of conduct in the misrepresentation and confirmed that a classwide resolution concerning the issue was possible but decertified a separate class seeking injunctive relief.