Via CreateSend.com,

It becomes harder and harder to overstate the corruption and treachery of the online ad industry. Lord knows I've tried.

Among its other accomplishments, Facebook has become famous for its lunatic metrics and bizarre rationalizations.

You would think a company that built its business on the promise of putting sophisticated data to work for advertisers would have the sense not to release numbers that are patently ridiculous.

But time and again Facebook has undermined its credibility by making claims that are easily proven to be false, and then defended these claims with statements that are absurd.

This week it was reported that Facebook was claiming to reach 41 million Americans between the ages of 18-24. If Facebook reached every American between 18 and 24 they'd still be 10 million short. There are only 31 million of them.

But Facebook's ability to reach imaginary people isn't just limited to its home base here in the US. According to their metrics, they have also developed the amazing technology to reach non-existent people all over the world.

Below is a chart from AdNews in Australia that sums up Facebook's "branded storytelling."

We are so used to bullshit from the online ad industry that this latest round of nonsense should surprise no one.