July 26 (Reuters) - LinkedIn agreed to pay $6.625

million to settle a proposed class action accusing the Microsoft ( MSFT )

unit of overcharging advertisers by inflating how many

people watched video ads on its platform.

A preliminary settlement was filed late on Thursday in San

Jose, California federal court, and requires approval by U.S.

Magistrate Judge Susan van Keulen in San Jose, California.

LinkedIn denied wrongdoing. It also agreed to use reasonable

efforts for two years to hire an outside auditor to review its

ad metrics.

Advertisers led by TopDevz of Sacramento, California and

Noirefy of Chicago accused LinkedIn of inflating ad metrics by

counting video ad "views" from users' LinkedIn apps, even when

videos played only off-screen because users scrolled past them.

The lawsuit began two weeks after LinkedIn disclosed in

November 2020 that its engineers fixed software bugs on the

business-focused social media platform that may have led to more

than 418,000 overcharges, most under $25.

LinkedIn provided credits to nearly all affected

advertisers.

Thursday's settlement covers U.S. advertisers who bought ads

on LinkedIn between January 2015 and May 2023.

In a statement, LinkedIn said the settlement "underscores

our commitment to the integrity of our ads products and

providing a trusted platform for our members and customers."

LinkedIn is based in Sunnyvale, California, and Microsoft ( MSFT ) is

based in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft's ( MSFT ) profit totaled $66.1

billion in the nine months ending March 31.

Judge van Keulen had dismissed the lawsuit in December 2021.

Advertisers appealed, but put the appeal on hold so both sides

could mediate the dispute.

The advertisers' lawyers may seek up to $1,656,250, or 25%

of the settlement amount, for legal fees.

The case is In re LinkedIn Advertising Metrics Litigation,

U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No.

20-08324.