More unfortunate headlines for Facebook this week as news surfaces that nearly 100 million accounts on the social networking platform are “fake.”
Facebook’s most recent 10-Q filing reveals that Facebook has an estimated total of 83 million dummy accounts, which amount to 8.7 percent of its reported 995 million active user base.
This population of fake people is far greater than what most had expected and delivers another blow to Faecbook’s credibility.
These fake accounts represent “a huge jump, both in raw numbers and as a percentage from Facebook’s last estimate,” observes CNet’s Emil Protlanski. “Back in March, Facebook said 5 to 6 percent of accounts are false or duplicate. At the time, this meant between 42.25 million and 50.70 million users.”
What else can Facebook tell us about these fake accounts?
4.8 percent are duplicate accounts (a single user with two or more accounts, in violation of Facebook’s terms of service).
2.4 percent are user-misclassified accounts, in which users have created personal profiles for a business, organization, or non-human entity such as a pet (instead of a Page, which such entities are allowed under Facebook’s terms of service).
1.5 percent are undesirable accounts, which represent user profiles that Facebook determines are intended to be used for purposes that violate our terms of service, such as spamming.
