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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

#151
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But doesn't FB use the existence of said profiles as a lure for advertisers? (eg. Your ad could reach any of our 1B members...) Seems like a class-action lawsuit in the making.

It's no secret that Facebook is battling bots. Do you have anything to back up your assertion that Facebook is deliberately lying to advertisers?

It is well known in sv that most if not all social media companies keep inflated numbers for investors, annother for sales and marketing, and a thrid for internal/technical use. I would like to see any evidince that this does not happen. As it stands, your claim is the one that needs to be backed up.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#152
post #27

I wonder how I make my inactive account look fake so they will cull it properly...

Start a campaign to quit Facebook collectively, and they'll ban you. A first step could be to change your profile picture into a "quit facebook" icon.

Any proof this works?

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#153
post #80
post #27

I wonder how I make my inactive account look fake so they will cull it properly...

I’m sure if you posted porn you’d get banned pretty fast.

Your public profile would, but not the data collection and utilisation attached to it. Shadow profiles are often more detailed than 'real' ones.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was confused in the same way and thought the 2B+ accounts figure usually reported was total accounts. So how many accounts, active or inactive, bots or humans, are there in total?

Don’t think they publicly reveal this as I’m not sure it’s relevant or important to investors/advertisers.

It is very relevant. It just looks very bad when you see the actual numbers.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#155
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The internet is decentralized. Social networks are centralized attention monopolising machines where sophisticated algorithms work to manipulate users. Social networks enable virality on a scale not seen before, which provides a massive incentive to bad actors. Virality via email didn’t have the same impact, simply because there was so much spam that people don’t trust the medium. USENET was similar, with the trolls…

>Social networks are centralized attention monopolising machines where sophisticated algorithms work to manipulate users. That's not true for WhatsApp though is it? It's just messaging + forwarding, not unlike email.

You are correct. There is no reason for WhatsApp to shut down forwarding immediately ...It’s not like any credible competitor is out there (and if any emerged, chances are it would be strangled in its cradle by concerned governments).

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole fake news / conspiracy stuff gets me. I find conspiracy theories to be almost like some sort of sci-fi / fantasy lore. I love watching stuff like Ancient Aliens, I know it is complete nonsense but it is fun laughing at all the begging the question they do. My other half believes in some super natural stuff such as horoscopes etc and she gets a bit annoyed at me and my brother taking the mickey out of it but…

As someone who enjoys coast to coast AM, I get the entertainment value; but there is real danger and harm in a lot of it. Just look at the harm Alex "turn the frogs gay" Jones has caused, specifically to the parents of Sandy Hook victims. Although you are right in that actively suppressing it can make it worse, since that very easily can be spun into "I'm right, the globalists are out to get me and are censoring me b…

Alex Jones is a meme. Everyone knows he is a nutcase.

As for danger, the mainstream media is just as bad. In the UK we are having people Milkshaked, including veterans.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9144116/ex-paras-turn-up-to-gu...

Because some publications has deemed the likes Nigel Farage to be a "fascist". So saying that Alex Jones is worse than anyone else is crazy. Just watch CNN and their conspiracy theories about Trump, they do the same but they are never mentioned because they are deemed to be "on the right side" whatever that is.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's no secret that Facebook is battling bots. Do you have anything to back up your assertion that Facebook is deliberately lying to advertisers?

It is well known in sv that most if not all social media companies keep inflated numbers for investors, annother for sales and marketing, and a thrid for internal/technical use. I would like to see any evidince that this does not happen. As it stands, your claim is the one that needs to be backed up.

You're asserting that X is happening, so the burden of proof is on you.

However, I think the lack of any forementioned lawsuits is strong evidence that the situation is at least a little more nuanced.

If an internet commentor came up with the idea for a lawsuit with all of 5 minutes of thought, then I promise you that the teams of lawyers that the advertisers employ have also already thought of that, and Facebook's lawyers have also already thought of that and have made sure to limit illegal behavior.

Facebook is not stupid enough to tell a bald faced lie to advertisers and hope that nobody finds out. I would be confident in saying that Facebook has very specific metrics that they present. They aren't going to shrug their shoulders and say "eh, we have about X users". They be careful to say something like "we serve X requests per day" or "we have X numbers of engagements from people". They will make specific and factually correct statements. Those statements may very well be crafted to mislead people, but Facebook has every incentive to make sure they are not actually lying. It's not like they are starved for people buying ad space.

In general, I think it's pretty arogant and ignorant to claim you have a perfect understanding of a situation that you have no actual insight into. It is always safe to assume that there are better informed people who have thought a lot more about any given issue than you have.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#160

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…

Thanks for this insight. I will keep in mind if I ever decide to bother with Instagram again.
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