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Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

nytimes.com

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Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#11

Post by will_brown »

Nav_Panel wrote: post #8
tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

Is a brand considered a "real name and real person"?

Yes, at least according to the Supreme Court of The United States.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#12

Post by volkk »

tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

there seems to be a twitter discussion happening with regards to authoritative/oppressive governments subpoenaing twitter to get a user's identity if that were to happen for voicing an opinion that isn't in line with the regime's. how do you solve this while giving every account an identity?

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#13

Post by aaroninsf »

nindalf wrote: post #9
tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

> .. FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts What makes you think Facebook isn't prioritizing this? I'm not questioning whether you're right about this, just curious about what made you draw this conclusion.

Take this hearsay as you like.

Someone I am intimate with left Facebook in the last month, in anger at the way senior management up to and including MZ first dismissed the severity of the problem of their platform being used to push propaganda during the election cycle.

And then stonewalled and foot dragged efforts to correct this. By the account I got the only incentive for action has been unflattering attention at the national press level.

This from someone with a personal relationship with Z.

Make of it what you will. The poison is real.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#14

Post by yourdonut »

tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

Speaking as an ex-Facebook growth employee, fake accounts actually hurt growth and are actively sought out and removed by a dedicated team. Think about it--if a user receives a bunch of fake friend requests, it's a bad experience. This is one of the (many) reasons MySpace died--because of the onslaught of porn-promoting accounts that they never cleaned up until it was too late.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#15

Post by jacquesm »

yourdonut wrote: post #14
tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

Speaking as an ex-Facebook growth employee, fake accounts actually hurt growth and are actively sought out and removed by a dedicated team. Think about it--if a user receives a bunch of fake friend requests, it's a bad experience. This is one of the (many) reasons MySpace died--because of the onslaught of porn-promoting accounts that they never cleaned up until it was too late.

Twitter is full of those porn promoting accounts. Typically this is an account with some female name and a profile pic of a person in a state of undress following lots of popular accounts.

Twitter doesn't even take them down if you complain about them. Very annoying.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#16

Post by vkou »

aaroninsf wrote: post #13
nindalf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> .. FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts What makes you think Facebook isn't prioritizing this? I'm not questioning whether you're right about this, just curious about what made you draw this conclusion.

Take this hearsay as you like. Someone I am intimate with left Facebook in the last month, in anger at the way senior management up to and including MZ first dismissed the severity of the problem of their platform being used to push propaganda during the election cycle. And then stonewalled and foot dragged efforts to correct this. By the account I got the only incentive for action has been unflattering attention at…

> Someone I am intimate with left Facebook in the last month, in anger at the way senior management up to and including MZ first dismissed the severity of the problem of their platform being used to push propaganda during the election cycle.

Intelligent and reasonable people can disagree - strongly as to the extent of how much of a problem this is, whether or not it is a problem, or whether the cure is worse then the disease.

This also has little to do with fake user accounts.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#17

Post by scrollaway »

tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

> It's just the right thing to do.

That sounds like a sweeping statement with little forethought when you're talking about a platform that enabled protests in dictatorial regimes.

Step back here: Fake users, sold by the thousands to give credibility and a megaphone to whoever shells out money: bad. Identity verification: A solution with many consequences to be weighed before jumping on the bandwagon.

And dictatures aside, I have no desire to give Twitter my ID or passport.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#18

Post by metalliqaz »

Nav_Panel wrote: post #8
tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

Is a brand considered a "real name and real person"?

I don't see why not. A brand is owned by a company. That company has a registered name and real people working the social media accounts.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#19

Post by TheAceOfHearts »

aaroninsf wrote: post #13
nindalf wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> .. FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts What makes you think Facebook isn't prioritizing this? I'm not questioning whether you're right about this, just curious about what made you draw this conclusion.

Take this hearsay as you like. Someone I am intimate with left Facebook in the last month, in anger at the way senior management up to and including MZ first dismissed the severity of the problem of their platform being used to push propaganda during the election cycle. And then stonewalled and foot dragged efforts to correct this. By the account I got the only incentive for action has been unflattering attention at…

Honestly, once you become that rich and powerful, I can imagine it's pretty difficult to not live inside a bubble. They probably don't understand how serious some problems are because they're not normal users. Also, it's probably hard to not let it go to your head and think that you always know what's best for the common rabble.

Re: Twitter Followers Vanish Amid Inquiries into Fake Accounts

#20

Post by spamizbad »

yourdonut wrote: post #14
tinbad wrote: post #2

It's so obvious that social platforms with business models based on number of ads/impressions like Twitter/FB are not incentivized enough to remove fake accounts, yet there seems to be very little public discussion or outrage about it. I agree with Mark Cuban here [1], they should do more to make sure each account has a real user behind it, even if it means less revenue. It's just the right thing to do. [1] https://t…

Speaking as an ex-Facebook growth employee, fake accounts actually hurt growth and are actively sought out and removed by a dedicated team. Think about it--if a user receives a bunch of fake friend requests, it's a bad experience. This is one of the (many) reasons MySpace died--because of the onslaught of porn-promoting accounts that they never cleaned up until it was too late.

Facebook certainly has been more diligent about stomping out fake accounts than most other services, with Twitter being social media's problem child.

A telling anecdote: A security researcher friend of mine found a somewhat small botnet of twitter accounts (~7000). Reported it to twitter, a few months passed and he noticed twitter hadn't done anything. So he turned it over to a journalist who eventually poked someone at twitter and... poof all 7000+ accounts were gone 6 hours later.

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