Facebook's advertising system experienced a glitch on Sunday, charging some advertisers up to four times more money than they had agreed upon, according to CNBC.
Meta, Facebook's parent company, briefly stopped displaying some ads without fully notifying or explaining the bug to its millions of customers. The company says the glitch has since been fixed.
- The issue began around 1 a.m. PT on Sunday, when a number of advertisers said they saw their accounts being charged up to four times their daily budgets in only hours.
- Some said they were charged for ads that no one saw.
- Meta cited a "technical issue" involving an automated system that primarily impacted ad delivery on Facebook and to a lesser extent, Instagram.
- Meta told advertisers online that it had resolved the issue by Tuesday and campaign deliveries had "returned to normal" across its Audience Network and other platforms.
- The company has pledged a "normal refund process" to those affected.
- Meta's system is reportedly limited to spending up to 25% beyond the daily budgets set by advertisers.
- A spokesperson said it doesn't have evidence that the company charged its customers beyond the 25% limit, or for ads that weren't being seen.
