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The fake Facebook profile industry

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Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#111

Post by cwkoss »

qaq wrote: post #5
dannyw wrote: post #3

I find it unbelievable that Facebook doesn't have the fake profile situation under control. Facebook builds an incredibly detailed social graph of every user (and non-user) with a big trail of activity, on and off Facebook. Surely there are signs; surely there are common characteristics, and if this journalist can write such a detailed exposé with only public data, Facebook can do much better.

Doesn't deleting a ton of fake profiles have implications for FB valuation and revenue?

Also, if they are knowingly sold ad impressions to bots' eyeballs (seems like they did), they committed fraud.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#112

Post by Mz »

brandon272 wrote: post #63
throwawayfish wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to keep things private Last year I was "sex-torted" on Facebook but not by a ring of French criminals. Instead, it was by someone I had chatted with on the internet years ago (while we were both still teenagers) She had recently gotten divorced and contacted me after many years away. We spoke about intimate things (I never shared intimate images, though she did) and were getting closer and c…

I'm sorry that happened to you. Since she knew your real identity, did you know hers? Did the possibility exist that you could sue her in civil court? I don't feel like I'm the litigious type but that case seems to be begging for a legal response.

Going to court to clear your name can result in the Streisand Effect. Lots of people are very judgey about sex. Letting more people know can just compound the problem, even if you win. It also is kind of like throwing good money after bad. After this has taken so much away, you are sinking more of your life into it. It can just magnify the damage.

I wish there were more justice in the world. I wish fighting the good fight were more rewarding. But that is often not a pragmatic approach.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#113

Post by Mz »

throwawayfish wrote: post #32

Using a throwaway account to keep things private Last year I was "sex-torted" on Facebook but not by a ring of French criminals. Instead, it was by someone I had chatted with on the internet years ago (while we were both still teenagers) She had recently gotten divorced and contacted me after many years away. We spoke about intimate things (I never shared intimate images, though she did) and were getting closer and c…

Men in my entourage just whispered and snickered.

It isn't manly to be a victim.

The people whispering and snickering are likely either horrible people who don't get victimized because they make sure they are taking advantage of other people and leaving no openings, or they have more terrible things to hide. Snickering is a form of denial of their own guilty behaviors.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#114

Post by MiddleEndian »

ggus wrote: post #51
fiatpandas wrote: post #12

This... was an unreadable experience. Gratuitous animations, football field sized paragraph widths, proportional/fluid CSS sizing (thought maximizing my browser on a 1080p screen would allow me to see more), bite sized paragraphs interspersed with information-thin graphic inserts, full width graphics that have a larger height than your browser viewport, text swooshing down the screen while you're scrolling because th…

There used to be a "Kill Button" in Opera browser that, once activated, would remove any clicked element. It was so easy to get rid of unwanted divs. I would like something like that for the latest version of firefox, but I couldn't find anything similar.

Element hiding helper for adblock plus works well for me in Firefox. Even has shortcuts w and n for wider and narrower respectively. Then whatever you select gets blocked permanently for you.

I've mainly used it to block all the shit youtube puts on top of videos, block position fixed videos on news sites, and make a bunch of forums less painful to browse.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#115

Post by buckminster »

srtjstjsj wrote: post #91
djsumdog wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OP probably didn't think about it, but that's really a great idea/strategy. I bet the poster was just so rattled by it he didn't think about just denying it. I can see why the police/fbi can't really do anything. It doesn't seem like there was anything criminal technically. They might be able to go after the person with a civil suit for slander? I don't know though, not a lawyer.

Blackmail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail is a crime

It would only be blackmail if she had made a threat first, but she seems to have acted out of spite. It would be a crime in the UK however; it's a malicious communication.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#116

Post by dsfyu404ed »

mc32 wrote: post #60
DanBC wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But more importantly fuck people who kink-shame. It's just sex, and people into kink tend to have better sense of consent and mutuality.

Right but climate changes and what is acceptable and not changes over time. What was empowering in the 1970s is today something different. What is suffocating today will tomorrow be different. Mores and interpretation change over time. In other words, yesterdays actions are viewed through today's lenses.

>Mores and interpretation change over time. In other words, yesterdays actions are viewed through today's lenses.

If only the "I have nothing to hide" crowd would understand this.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#118

Post by DanBC »

underwoodley wrote: post #85
irishbro wrote: post #8

The 2010 documentary catfish, and subsequent mtv series, offers an interesting look behind the curtain at the type of people who create fake facebook profiles. It covers a wide variety of reasons for creating them spanning from people who suffer from low self-esteem and confidence issues to not being able to reveal that they are homo-sexual out of fear of their friends and family finding out, just out of pure malice…

You should be aware that this is a very questionable documentary and the makers of the documentary who are now the presenters of the TV show have been credibly accused of faking footage and exploiting the subject. > Some journalists and film critics have cast doubt on the filmmakers motivations. Kyle Buchanan of MovieLine questions why the filmmakers would begin obsessively documenting Nev's online relationship so ea…

> You should be aware that this is a very questionable documentary

Your links only talk about the film makers; the phenomenon of cat-fishing is real.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#119

Post by taurath »

pohl wrote: post #44
dannyw wrote: post #3

I find it unbelievable that Facebook doesn't have the fake profile situation under control. Facebook builds an incredibly detailed social graph of every user (and non-user) with a big trail of activity, on and off Facebook. Surely there are signs; surely there are common characteristics, and if this journalist can write such a detailed exposé with only public data, Facebook can do much better.

Why would they scuttle their own engagement metrics by pruning out highly-engaged segments of the social network, though?

Because as it becomes more fake they lose their reason to have users in the first place. Ads are the product, metrics are the data that leads to the product, and users are the raw material. If they lose the raw material the product loses value.

Re: The fake Facebook profile industry

#120

Post by Mz »

willvarfar wrote: post #62

The article explores sextortion, but doesn't ponder too deeply whats going on the with sharing images of disabled people etc. Perhaps people who respond sympathetically are also easy marks for sob story and pleading for money?

Off the cuff opinion:

Sex has a strong emotional component. People who are "sexually needy" are often really emotionally needy and emotionally unhealthy. They are attracted to things with a strong emotional component, but low commitment. Liking pics of people who have cancer or whatever fits those criteria. The people gushing at pathetic photos of that sort are (probably) more likely than others to also be vulnerable to sextortion.

I am handicapped and had a lengthy medical crisis. Lots of people wanted me to be their big feels hit for the day while not actually giving a flying fuck about my welfare. Trying to get people to invest two nanoseconds in actually being helpful instead of merely using me as some emotional drug was a huge uphill battle.

A good filter for who to not waste my time on is folks who seek me out because I have a disability (or other sob story) and they have such big feels about it. These are always leeches who cannot respect me as a person and will only ever talk to me to meet their emotional needs. It's really sick stuff.

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