Questions? +1 (202) 335-3939 Login
Trusted News Since 1995
A service for global professionals · Friday, March 29, 2024 · 699,717,206 Articles · 3+ Million Readers

Demanding Transparency for Advertisers, BrandTotal Files TRO against Facebook in US District Court

Demands Injunctive Relief from Facebook’s Unilateral Decision to Shut Down UpVoice Analytics Plugin, which is Fully Opt-In and Compliant with GDPR and CCPA

Facebook’s complaint is akin to a broadcast network suing Nielsen or another ratings service. Advertisers work with us because they want more transparency.”
— Alon Leibovich
NEW YORK, NY, US, October 21, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- For Immediate Release

Demanding Transparency for Advertisers, BrandTotal Files Motion for Temporary Restraining Order against Facebook in US District Court
- TRO Filed in California’s Northern District Demands Injunctive Relief from Facebook’s Unilateral Decision to Shut Down UpVoice Analytics Plugin
- Fully Opt-In and Compliant with GDPR and CCPA, UpVoice Plugin Pays Consumers to Report Ads They See on Social Platforms
- Hearing Scheduled for Monday, October 26

New York, NY – October 21, 2020 – NYC-Based BrandTotal, who operates UpVoice, a consumer panel plugin that compensates participates around the world to enable insights into ads they view, announced today they have file a motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against Facebook, Inc. (NSDQ: FB). BrandTotal filed its TRO in response to Facebook having disabled BrandTotal’s Facebook accounts and sent a takedown notice to Google to disable the UpVoice browser extension on Chrome, as well as others, on October 2.

Judge Joseph Spero of the US District Court, Northern California District (Ninth Circuit) has given Facebook until Wednesday, October 21, to reply to the complaint. Judge Spero scheduled the TRO hearing for Monday, October 26, at 2:00 PM PT.

BrandTotal Technology Enables Transparency for Advertisers
BrandTotal’s panel provides dozens of advertiser clients who spend millions of dollars annually on Facebook with insights into their campaigns on that and other platforms. The company has no direct relationship with Facebook or any other online publisher or platform, though it is compliant with the Terms and Conditions of all publisher sites and is not a “scraper.” BrandTotal’s relationships through UpVoice are with consumers who opt in and advertisers who buy the insights it generates.

“Facebook’s complaint is akin to a broadcast network suing Nielsen or another ratings service,” said Alon Leibovich, BrandTotal’s CEO. “As is the case with Nielsen, Brand Total’s relationship is with consumers and advertisers. It’s that simple. Brands work with us because they want more transparency about their competitive landscape and marketing spend."

Facebook is attempting to put BrandTotal out of business with its actions of October 2, disabling any opportunity for due process. After BrandTotal told Facebook that it would seek a temporary restraining order against Facebook to order it to reverse the actions it took to put it out of business, Facebook engaged in other legal maneuvers to delay BrandTotal by dismissing its original state court action, and then filing a new federal case with more legal causes of action. While Facebook’s maneuvers slowed BrandTotal down, it has now filed its TRO in federal court seeking to stop Facebook’s actions.

Consumer Impacts
Thousands of users have opted in to download and install the UpVoice plugin. These users are paid to share advertiser insights from their browsing habits. Hundreds of these consumers have issued complaints on Facebook and directly to BrandTotal. Complaints have ranged from: “Shame on Facebook – at least YOU PAY US for our data,” to “So, FB can make money from my data, but they won’t let you pay me for my data? What a load of crap!”

The size of any given data set accessed by BrandTotal clients depends on the volume of impressions seen by UpVoice users on the platform at a given time. These sessions range in the thousands or tens of thousands of page views, in aggregate. BrandTotal clients regard the data as beyond statistically significant, and – ironically, in consideration of Facebook’s actions, BrandTotal clients usually choose to increase their spend on Facebook after gathering these insights.

Facebook’s Complaint brazenly labels the UpVoice browser extension “malicious” with no explanation. Far from malicious, BrandTotal has at all times retained privacy lawyers to make sure it is compliant with all privacy statutes globally, including CCPA and GDPR. BrandTotal only analyzes deidentified and aggregated user data to identify advertising trends. Indeed, large corporations - BrandTotal’s clients - do not care about any individual user’s data when spending millions to advertise with companies like Facebook.

About BrandTotal
BrandTotal’s UpVoice panel provides advertisers with insights into their campaigns on Facebook and other platforms. We have no direct relationship with Facebook or any other online publisher or platform. Our relationships are with consumers and the advertisers who buy our insights. BrandTotal does not collect or store personal user data, nor do we monitor or track individual behaviors or activities. Any user data that we collect are anonymized and non-identifiable. We are fully compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) out of our commitment to transparency and respect for our panel users. For more information, please visit: www.brandtotal.com

# # #

Mark A Naples
Whatever It Takes
+1 6462657372
email us here

Powered by EIN Presswire


EIN Presswire does not exercise editorial control over third-party content provided, uploaded, published, or distributed by users of EIN Presswire. We are a distributor, not a publisher, of 3rd party content. Such content may contain the views, opinions, statements, offers, and other material of the respective users, suppliers, participants, or authors.

Submit your press release