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9.6% of Facebook's Users 'May Be Fakes' (nytimes.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the click-'Like'-if-you're-real dept.

An anonymous reader quotes the New York Times: Facebook estimates that about 200 million of its more than 2.07 billion users may be fakes... [Non-paywalled article here.] Colin Stretch, the general counsel of Facebook, told the Senate Intelligence Committee the company was doubling its review staff to 20,000 and using artificial intelligence to find more "bad actors"... Sean Edgett, Twitter's general counsel, testified before Congress that about 5 percent of its 330 million users are "false accounts or spam," which would add up to more than 16 million fakes.

Independent experts say the real numbers are far higher. On Twitter, little more than an email address is needed to start tweeting. Facebook's requirement that users be their authentic selves means the company asks for a smattering of information to sign up -- name, birthday, gender and email address. But few checks exist to verify if that information is true when a user signs up.

6 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Fakebook . . . ? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Definitely "Fakebook" . . . yeah, Zuckerberg's Gestapo crew will now be after me, but, when push comes to shove . . . (Especially since he will probably be the President of the USA real soon),

    "Fakebook" is an appropriate name for his business. Just ask Russia what the costs are.

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  2. 2.07 Billion? by gtall · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are roughly 7.6 billion people on the planet, and about 1/4 of them use facebook?

    I'm guessing there are well north of 200 million fakes.

    1. Re:2.07 Billion? by vlad30 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I consider anyone that uses Facebook more than 15 minutes a day to be a fake, real friends communicate in person

      --
      Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
    2. Re:2.07 Billion? by Kjella · · Score: 5, Informative

      There are roughly 7.6 billion people on the planet, and about 1/4 of them use facebook? I'm guessing there are well north of 200 million fakes.

      You don't understand the reach of Facebook. Here in Norway 80% of the population has used Facebook in the last three months and 65% use it daily. In the youth category (16-24) about 90% use it daily. Granted, we're only 5.2 million of the world population but "everyone" is on Facebook. These are quite reliable statistics not made by Facebook. Getting a Facebook account is the current decade's version of getting a GeoCities homepage, "everyone" has one. I'm quite willing to believe Facebook's numbers are accurate. I don't want the to be, but the facts quite clearly reject my wishes.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  3. I'm fake multiple times by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Interesting

    And none of them have posted on facebook in over 5 years.
    I have one account- created after where I saw facebook was headed that has no pictures and I only follow one subject. Yet- it's already suggested real life friends among the people who 'might' be my friends.

    It's fucking creepy.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  4. Mine is by HalAtWork · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have a profile with my real name, but everything on there is false info, fake friends, fake pictures, fake likes, fake affiliations, fake posts. But it's all consistent. I just want to see what happens.

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    Twinstiq, game news