Internal Warnings and Slow Fixes
Internal documents cited in the complaint include PowerPoint slides in which Meta engineers reported pricing “that doesn’t make sense” and acknowledged, “we cannot explain the pricing.” When the problem was eventually traced back to the faulty code, Meta allegedly rolled out a fix to just 2% of advertisers at first, to avoid detection.
Kurt Runke, then-director of auction and delivery science at Facebook, reportedly estimated the revenue impact of the bug to be $1 billion annually. Over the four-year period, Iron Tribe claims advertisers were overcharged by roughly $4 billion.
Plaintiffs allege that Meta would never have disclosed the issue voluntarily, and that it only came to light after a targeted investigation involving former Meta employees.
Claims and Class Scope
The four-count complaint includes claims for:
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Violations of California’s Unfair Competition Law
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Breach of contract
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Breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing
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Unjust enrichment
Iron Tribe is seeking to represent a class of all Facebook advertisers charged during the affected period. The suit requests restitution, disgorgement of Meta’s alleged ill-gotten gains, attorney fees, and other appropriate relief.
