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Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#101

Post by wolco »

anonymous5133 wrote: post #79

I never knew how many fake profiles exist on facebook until I tried to buy a $10 amazon gift card with paypal in one of the groups I was joined. I missed all the red flags. First, the profile was an attractive female with little account activity. Second, when I tried to send the paypal payment it defaulted to PHP currency (Philippines money) even though the seller said they lived in the United States. Third, the acco…

Just curious have you tried this before with success or heard about a friend trying this?

Was the deal extremely good 90% off or more reasonable 20/30%?

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#102

Post by digitalnalogika »

forgotmypw wrote: post #74
rwmj wrote: post #70

They didn't catch the 3 fake profiles I set up on Facebook. I've not used them for five or more years, but I checked recently and they are still there and still let me log in without so much as a "where you been". They all have obviously fake names and were used only for testing advertising at various times in the past.

They did, however, "catch" my Instagram account, which was only used by a human (me). Since posting is not possible without installing the app, I never posted anything, but I did have a profile picture, followed accounts, and commented on posts. Then, one day, I tried to log in, and it was gone. Email address not recognized in password reset. No trace of any kind. So long, Instagram.

Oh so that's what happened to the Instagram account I created for one of my apps. It was completely gone without trace while I was on vacation, didn't even use it actively.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#103

Post by wolco »

bArray wrote: post #98
chiefalchemist wrote: post #43

> "During that six-month period, Facebook removed more than three billion fake accounts - more than ever before. More than seven million "hate speech" posts were removed, also a record high." Any sense of context here? For example, seven million might be a raw record high, but of how many total posts would be far more telling. Same for fake accounts. Is that rate up? Down? Was there a time when FB wasn't as vigilant…

I suspect a significant number of posts removed for "hate speech" could have been people sharing videos/documents related to the Christchurch terrorist attack. It depends on the definition of a post and whether the BBC interpretted Facebook's message correctly. The number 1.5 million gets thrown around a lot [1]. I also heard the value 4 million, but cannot find the source. If that's true, then I imagine the details…

I know family members who will report posts between each other as hate speech when they are fighting and calling each other names.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#104

Post by wolco »

adventured wrote: post #88
forgotmypw wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They did, however, "catch" my Instagram account, which was only used by a human (me). Since posting is not possible without installing the app, I never posted anything, but I did have a profile picture, followed accounts, and commented on posts. Then, one day, I tried to log in, and it was gone. Email address not recognized in password reset. No trace of any kind. So long, Instagram.

> Since posting is not possible without installing the app, I never posted anything You can post from eg desktop Chrome, without using the app. I routinely do this since I don't like installing FB apps on my phone. I often edit photos on my desktop prior to uploading, so it's just plain convenient. Sign in on the desktop with Chrome. Go to your default home page (the person body icon). Right mouse click -> inspect pa…

Would resizing the window smaller do the same?

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#105

Post by [deleted] »

yyy888sss wrote: post #85
thatoneuser wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What was this scam?

There are groups (on Discord, Facebook) where people sell Amazon gift card codes for less than the value of the gift card. Sometimes they are real codes that have been bought with accounts that have been hacked through email phishing, and sometimes they are completely fake.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#106

Post by bArray »

wolco wrote: post #103
bArray wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect a significant number of posts removed for "hate speech" could have been people sharing videos/documents related to the Christchurch terrorist attack. It depends on the definition of a post and whether the BBC interpretted Facebook's message correctly. The number 1.5 million gets thrown around a lot [1]. I also heard the value 4 million, but cannot find the source. If that's true, then I imagine the details…

I know family members who will report posts between each other as hate speech when they are fighting and calling each other names.

I wondered about cases like this. I don't think Facebook is well suited to dealing with the social nuances of real-life humans - context matters. Mass false flagging must be an equally difficult problem to deal with.

Not that I make a habit of it, but sometimes something really annoys me on Facebook, but there's rarely an option that explains the actual problem. For example the other day I got a friend request from some young woman which I didn't accept (but left the request there encase it turned out to somebody who didn't look like their profile). A few days later the request turns into a young Indian looking man. I think most people can agree that bate and switch is bad behaviour for a social media network, but I couldn't find an option to report it using their limited interface.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#107

Post by Scoundreller »

wolco wrote: post #103
bArray wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect a significant number of posts removed for "hate speech" could have been people sharing videos/documents related to the Christchurch terrorist attack. It depends on the definition of a post and whether the BBC interpretted Facebook's message correctly. The number 1.5 million gets thrown around a lot [1]. I also heard the value 4 million, but cannot find the source. If that's true, then I imagine the details…

I know family members who will report posts between each other as hate speech when they are fighting and calling each other names.

And sometimes you see something that is an obvious scam/spam, and you figure it will get reviewed faster if labelled “hate speech”.

Just like needing technical support, so you call sales instead.

Or when you say you’re going to cancel just so you “unlock” the retention deals.

Such is the MBA league game of modern life.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#108

Post by Scoundreller »

forgotmypw wrote: post #74
rwmj wrote: post #70

They didn't catch the 3 fake profiles I set up on Facebook. I've not used them for five or more years, but I checked recently and they are still there and still let me log in without so much as a "where you been". They all have obviously fake names and were used only for testing advertising at various times in the past.

They did, however, "catch" my Instagram account, which was only used by a human (me). Since posting is not possible without installing the app, I never posted anything, but I did have a profile picture, followed accounts, and commented on posts. Then, one day, I tried to log in, and it was gone. Email address not recognized in password reset. No trace of any kind. So long, Instagram.

If this happens to my FirstName+LastName accounts I’ve staked out, I’ll be pissed.

My guess is that they label every account with a lifetime customer value number, and if the costs of your database entry is more than that, they cull it for “being a bot”.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#109

Post by Scoundreller »

jaabe wrote: post #76
rwmj wrote: post #70

They didn't catch the 3 fake profiles I set up on Facebook. I've not used them for five or more years, but I checked recently and they are still there and still let me log in without so much as a "where you been". They all have obviously fake names and were used only for testing advertising at various times in the past.

My cat still has her account. Granted, she’s not posting political bullshit or trolling. In fact she hasn’t even logged in for something like five years, but she obviously didn’t setup the account herself.

Dunno about yours, but my cat has been known to spend all day on the keyboard and drain my laptop’s battery while I’m away for the day.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#110

Post by Scoundreller »

oh_sigh wrote: post #72
rwmj wrote: post #70

They didn't catch the 3 fake profiles I set up on Facebook. I've not used them for five or more years, but I checked recently and they are still there and still let me log in without so much as a "where you been". They all have obviously fake names and were used only for testing advertising at various times in the past.

I have hundreds of fake facebook profiles, because back in ~2005 or so when my university got facebook, I realized that our email accounts received all mail going to not only myaccount@myschool.edu but also myaccount@*.myschool.edu. Facebook, on the other hand, only confirmed if you were allowed to register based on suffix matching(it was limited to certain schools at that time), but otherwise treated your full email…

I’ve heard there’s some extra value for EBay accounts before a certain year.

Probably because they just didn’t collect/verify enough data back then to be confident enough to make a decision.

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