San Diego
– Online social network Classmates.com has agreed to pay nearly $10 million to
settle a class action lawsuit over claims of false advertising related to its
upgrade pitch to users.
Anthony Michaels claimed in the suit that, when he paid
$15 to upgrade to a Gold Membership and find out which former classmates had
"tried to contact him" — as the Classmates ad in question stated —
"no former classmate of his had tried to contact him or view his
profile."
While denying any wrongdoing, Classmates.com agreed to pay up to
$9.5 million to the more than 3 million Classmates members who upgraded after
seeing the marketing pitch, in the form of $3 in cash each or a $2 discount on
membership.
The company also agreed to changed the way it describes its
Guestbook feature, to indicate that people viewing a user’s profile on
Classmates are not necessarily former classmates.
Related Links:
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(Wired.com)
http://snipurl.com/uw6ub
(DMW previous coverage)
