Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Facebook shut 583 million fake accounts
phys.org ^ | May 15, 2018

Posted on 05/15/2018 7:49:28 PM PDT by upchuck

Facebook axed 583 million fake accounts in the first three months of 2018, the social media giant said Tuesday, detailing how it enforces "community standards" against sexual or violent images, terrorist propaganda or hate speech.

Responding to calls for transparency after the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, Facebook said those closures came on top of blocking millions of attempts to create fake accounts every day.

Despite this, the group said fake profiles still make up 3-4 percent of all active accounts.

It claimed to detect almost 100 percent of spam and to have removed 837 million posts assimilated to spam over the same period.

Facebook pulled or slapped warnings on nearly 30 million posts containing sexual or violent images, terrorist propaganda or hate speech during the first quarter.

Improved technology using artificial intelligence had helped it act on 3.4 million posts containing graphic violence, nearly three times more than it had in the last quarter of 2017.

In 85.6 percent of the cases, Facebook detected the images before being alerted to them by users, said the report, issued the day after the company said about 200 apps had been suspended on its platform as part of an investigation into misuse of private user data.

The figure represents between 0.22 and 0.27 percent of the total content viewed by Facebook's more than two billion users from January through March.

"In other words, of every 10,000 content views, an estimate of 22 to 27 contained graphic violence," the report said.

Responses to rule violations include removing content, adding warnings to content that may be disturbing to some users while not violating Facebook standards; and notifying law enforcement in case of a "specific, imminent and credible threat to human life".

Improved IT also helped Facebook take action against 1.9 million posts containing terrorist propaganda, a 73 percent increase. Nearly all were dealt with before any alert was raised, the company said.

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2018-05-facebook-million-fake-accounts.html


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: facebook; fakebook; fbfakeaccounts
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-50 last
To: Liz
Interesting point and good advice to contact the SEC. Another FakeBook item is Marky's stonewalling and blowing-off of the inquiry in the UK. These acts (bad acts) may not end well for FakeBook. Ah, the sound of FakeBook with the fake books.
41 posted on 05/16/2018 6:31:26 AM PDT by ptsal ( Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please. - M. Twain)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

My account still exists, even though the last time I logged in was July 2017.

I created the account nearly 2 decades ago to get some info/serial number for a software program. The next time I logged in was about 15 years later. I had forgotten I even had that account until Facebook hit the news and was surprised that my account still existed.

The only reason I signed in last July was when the main FR site was down and FBk was the go-to info site.


42 posted on 05/16/2018 6:49:28 AM PDT by TomGuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: poconopundit

I must be unique. I have one email address...the same one I’ve used since I subscribed to Time Warner’s Road Runner...20+ years ago. I don’t use Firefox or Google. I use Safari and have Ad Block Plus, so I’m not bothered by those types of ads.


43 posted on 05/16/2018 7:48:05 AM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

I still have not figured out how to get away with a fake account from which to annoy liberals.


44 posted on 05/16/2018 10:32:48 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mass55th

Good. Another you can do is create your own home page that has 90% of the common websites you go to so you really don’t need to search Google or Facebook to find them.

I put the personal home page in a folder of my computer rather than on the internet.

And the other thing you can do is clean out your surfing history.


45 posted on 05/16/2018 12:20:54 PM PDT by poconopundit (MAGA... Get the Spirit. Grow your community. Focus on your Life's Work. Empower the Young.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: poconopundit

Thanks for the advice, but my Safari browser already does that without me having to tell it to.


46 posted on 05/16/2018 1:14:55 PM PDT by mass55th (Courage is being scared to death - but saddling up anyway...John Wayne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: upchuck

If there were this many fake accounts, Facebook has been misleading its advertisers about its marketing reach.


47 posted on 05/16/2018 2:16:05 PM PDT by Fedora
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: robroys woman
I should check my fake account to see if it still works.

All of mine do!

48 posted on 05/16/2018 5:46:32 PM PDT by usconservative (When The Ballot Box No Longer Counts, The Ammunition Box Does. (What's In Your Ammo Box?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Liz; Whenifhow; null and void; aragorn; EnigmaticAnomaly; kalee; Kale; 2ndDivisionVet; azishot; ...

583 million people they won’t have to pay in the class action suit, bwahaha


49 posted on 05/16/2018 6:42:00 PM PDT by bitt (t)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 32 | View Replies]

To: usconservative

Thank you, gonna try that tonight.


50 posted on 05/17/2018 6:48:39 AM PDT by Bryan24 (When in doubt, move to the right..........)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 34 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-50 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson