Faith-Based Filmmaker Sues Facebook For Allegedly Faulty Ad Links

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A faith-based Hollywood filmmaker is suing Facebook over alleged problems with
advertising links provided by the social media site that he claims caused his movies to stumble in theaters and hurt DVD sales.

Timothy Chey and his company, Riverrain Productions, filed a complaint Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking unspecified damages on allegations of negligent interference with prospective economic relations, breach of contract, negligence and defamation.

According to the complaint, Chey says he decided to use Facebook's self-serve ad interface to promote the films "Final the Rapture," "David and Goliath" and "Epic Journey" upon their completion in 2013, according to the complaint.

Chey claims to have spent more than $150,000 for the service, which he expected would provide links to the web pages for each of the films that would, in turn, direct people to another page with information and listings for each movie.

Instead, users were met with two warnings stating that the links might be malicious or that there were general problems with them, according to the complaint.

"These warnings caused consumers to question the veracity and authenticity of the films and (Chey)," the suit states.

A Facebook representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit.

Chey, a graduate of USC Film School, says the problems resulted in less demand to see the films in theaters or buy them on DVDs, according to the lawsuit.