MASHABLE (USA), BBC NEWS, DAILY MAIL (UK)
The number of fake accounts on Facebook is roughly the size of Egypt’s population and larger than most of the world’s countries, reports Mashable: 83.09 million.
The astonishing figure makes up 8.7% of all Facebook’s 995 million active viewers, says the Daily Mail. According to the London daily, Facebook classified the fake accounts in three groups:
-4.8% were duplicate accounts, such as accounts set up by people to keep their activities hidden from their partner or their parents.
-2.4% were “user-misclassified” accounts, where “users have created personal profiles for a business, organization or non-human entity such as a pet” according to Facebook.
-1.5% were “undesirable” accounts were profiles were deemed to be in breach of Facebook“s terms of service; accounts set up to send out spam emails.
Facebook, reports BBC News, whose business model relies on targeted advertising, is coming under increased scrutiny over the worth of its advertising model which promotes the gathering of likes from users.
So Facebook has 83 million “fake” users, affecting advertising costs. I bet the lawsuits won’t be fake bbc.in/NL7NhD
— Robert McIntosh (@thirstforwine) August 2, 2012
Last month, the BBC’s technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones set up a fake company to investigate allegations of fake likes. His investigation found that the large majority of likes for the fake firm originated from the Middle East and Asia.
Apparently, 83 Million Facebook Accounts Are Fake. Surely, there aren’t any fake accounts on Twitter.
— Andrew Luck’s Head (@AndrewLucksHead) August 2, 2012