Facebook fires 10 sales reps in Toronto

Facebook Canada has fired 10 ad sales representatives in its Toronto office after an internal investigation revealed the employees claimed commissions on client accounts they had not worked on.

The reps were let go in February after it was discovered they were “pretending” to have earned revenue on several accounts with no assigned sales agent, said an industry executive who asked not to be named.

Facebook declined comment, although the executive said the upheaval had no impact on client accounts or overall revenue — adding that the problem was confined to the Toronto office and is not evidence of a systemic, company-wide account management issue.

Facebook, with about 22 million active users in Canada, gives smaller advertisers on its site the option of bypassing a sales agent and taking an ad using an automated service — an option offered across much of the social media ad industry and at many newspapers.

In March, BuzzFeed News reported that Facebook had been paying commissions on advertiser accounts “to employees that had done nothing to earn it.”

The report said sales reps appeared to be claiming commissions on selfservice ad purchases along with commissions from advertisers they actually represented.

“It speaks volumes to the state of Facebook’s business,” an executive from a rival service told BuzzFeed.

“They have so many customers that some can get lost in the sea.”

Along with its headquarters in the MaRS Discovery District that has about 75 employees, Facebook Canada maintains operations in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.