LinkedIn, a subsidiary of Microsoft (MSFT.US), agreed to pay about $6.63 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over inflated advertising charges.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.US) subsidiary LinkedIn Corp. agreed to pay about $6.63 million to settle a class action lawsuit, which alleged that LinkedIn overcharged advertisers by exaggerating the number of people who viewed video ads on its platform.

The report added that an initial settlement agreement was filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose, pending approval by U.S. Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen.

LinkedIn denied wrongdoing. The company also agreed to take reasonable steps within two years to have an independent audit of its advertising metrics.

Advertisers including TopDevz in Sacramento, California, and Noirefy in Chicago alleged that LinkedIn inflated its advertising metrics by counting video ad views on its platform even though the videos were played outside of the user's screen.

The legal dispute began two weeks before LinkedIn disclosed in November 2020 that its engineers had fixed software bugs on the platform that could have resulted in over $418,000 in excess charges, most of which were less than $25.

LinkedIn gave credit to most affected advertisers.

The settlement agreement covers U.S. advertisers who purchased ads on the platform between January 2015 and May 2023.

Van Keulen judge dismissed the lawsuit in December 2021. However, the report said advertisers appealed but put the appeal on hold so that the parties could negotiate a settlement.