{"id":139891,"date":"2019-05-24T17:22:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-24T17:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=139891"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:54:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:54:03","slug":"facebook-deletes-fake-accounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-deletes-fake-accounts\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook deletes 2.2 billion fake accounts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fake<\/p>\n

From January through March of this year, Facebook deleted about 2.2 billion fake accounts<\/strong> from the platform. That’s twice the normal number of accounts they delete in a three-month span. Facebook released this data in a recent blog post.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Facebook\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Facebook<\/span>\r\n Download free \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>7<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

What are these fake accounts even used for?<\/h2>\n

Facebook VP of Analytics Alex Schultz wrote about the prevalence of the fake accounts.<\/a><\/p>\n

“The number for fake accounts actioned is very skewed by simplistic attacks<\/strong>, which don\u2019t represent real harm or even a real risk of harm<\/strong>,” Schultz writes. “If an unsophisticated, bad actor tries to mount an attack and create 100 million fake accounts \u2014 and we remove them as soon as they are created \u2014 that\u2019s 100 million fake accounts actioned. But no one is exposed to these accounts and, hence, we haven\u2019t prevented any harm<\/strong> to our users. Because we remove these accounts so quickly, they are never considered active and we don\u2019t count them as monthly active users.”<\/p>\n

\"Fake<\/p>\n

The vast majority of the deleted accounts were ones for boosting likes.<\/strong> The idea is that if your page has a high amount of likes, they are more believable and influential.<\/p>\n

However, the problems with fake accounts are much more serious<\/strong> than Schultz would have us believe. There were still about 18 million fake accounts that\u00a0violated policy for toxic behavior<\/strong> that Facebook deleted after an appeal<\/strong>. The violations include:<\/p>\n