Jerusalem Post Group files NIS 1 million lawsuit against Internet data analysis company SimilarWeb
"The company's data on Jewish world news websites constitutes a false representation and we will act to ensure that the injustice is repaired," Jerusalem Post CEO says.
By JPOST.COM STAFFThe Jerusalem Post(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)
The Jerusalem Post Group filed a NIS 1 million lawsuit against Internet data analysis company SimilarWeb in the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.The Post argues in its suit that SimilarWeb was “negligent” in publishing incorrect data about the Web exposure of the paper’s website’s (www.jpost.com) as compared to its competitors. It says the difference between the figures that SimilarWeb published and the true data was well outside the norm of the accepted margin of error.The Jerusalem Post Group’s suit added that the figures published do not reflect a correct representation of the exposure of the Post’s website, which has consistently rated as a leader among its competitors by a large margin, according to data provided by Compete and Alexa, the leading Internet data analysis website.Prior to the filing of the lawsuit, the Jerusalem Post had approached SimilarWeb, asking the company to cease its publication of the allegedly erroneous figures and to issue an apology, together with a listing of the correct numbers.SimilarWeb admitted to having erred, correcting one of its posts. However, the company once again began publishing erroneous data, prompting the paper to file its lawsuit.Ronit Hasin-Hochman, CEO of The Jerusalem Post Group, said that “The Jerusalem Post website is the leading website in the Jewish world, with between five and eight million unique visitors each month and more than 28 million page views. It serves as the homepage for most Diaspora Jews who are interested in Israel.”Hasin-Hochman added that “While SimilarWeb professes to be a source of comparative Internet traffic data, the methods and tools they employ to obtain their data are not made public and are kept under a total blackout.”She said that despite The Jerusalem Post Group having proved to the company that the figures it was publishing were erroneous, which led to it making a correction, it reverted to publishing erroneous data and continues to do so today.“The company’s data on Jewish world news websites constitute a false representation, and we will act to ensure that the injustice is repaired,” Hasin-Hochman said.
