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83 Million Fake Facebook User Accounts Under The Scanner [Updates]

Sunday, August 5, 2012 11:18

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(Before It's News)

Maybe you have just one Facebook account. But there are people around the world who opened multiple Facebook accounts for the heck of it; or for some undefined purposes. Facebook is now paying attention because quite simply it impinges on their revenue-per-user estimates. It is now also a publicly traded company.

In a recent regulatory filing that is mandated every quarter by the United States Federal Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said that nearly 8.7% of its accounts – approximately 83 million – could be classified as false accounts.

The 83 million fake accounts can be further broken down. Facebook calculates that 45.8 million users are duplicate accounts and 2.4% could be wrong classifications by users, i.e. they are personal profiles that someone made for companies, groups, or pets. The company says those should actually be pages and be converted without loss of information. The last 1.5% are usually undesirable accounts, which are created for spam.

Facebook’s terms of service clearly states the requirement to use real names and information with the single account that a user is allowed to create. Under-13 minors are also barred from using Facebook.

The implications for a user are manifold. A Facebook crackdown on multiple accounts could be good in the long run, as it would deter stalkers who open multiple profiles under assumed names. If you have opened a second Facebook account, even for innocuous reasons, it’s time to take a second look. If Facebook disables your account you can’t create a new one without permission from the company.

Source: CNN Tech