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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

#71

Post by stephenr »

mythrwy wrote: post #65
criley2 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I didn't say that, but in order to prevent a "whatabout" or "false equivalence" attack, I will state up front: Conservatives are more likely to create, spread and fall for fake news than liberals. https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/1/eaau4586 "Conservatives were more likely to share articles from fake news domains, which in 2016 were largely pro-Trump in orientation, than liberals or moderates" We can speculat…

There is plenty of anti-science thinking in certain camps of the left as well. Phone radiation, GMOs, nuclear power, dietary trends, mushrooms are conscious, the list of foo is pretty long if you look. Along with the anti-math, anti-logic, anti-historical evidence view of economics. But I don't disagree there is a fair amount of right wing kookage spread about. Perhaps more than it's left wing counterpart. For a long…

Being anti-nuclear doesn’t mean you’re anti-science, nor does questioning the value/cost/results of GMO foods.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#72

Post by oh_sigh »

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 address as your ID. If bug bounties existed back then I would have certainly turned it in, but instead I just used it as a tool to entertain friends by posting comments as other people. Most of those accounts are based on memes from back then, or minor celebrity musicians myself and my friends were in to, but to this day, every account I try still works.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#74

Post by forgotmypw »

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.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#75

Post by skinnymuch »

KirinDave wrote: post #56
notacoward wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on the number of comments already which don't even address the OP and add absolutely nothing to the discussion (including yours) so is Hacker News. Maybe the solution is for people to be less toxic, instead of blaming platforms.

"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."

How are you doing anything but what you quoted?

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#76

Post by jaabe »

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.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#77

Post by bostik »

criley2 wrote: post #21
Shish2k wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think any other platforms are doing better, or is all social media inherently doomed?

To me, it's Pandora's Box. It's an information singularity. We have political information anarchy. Anyone can do a hack job on a video and get 100,000,000 views and a Presidential tweet and control a news cycle. People are afraid of "Deep fakes" but the reality is is that people are so conditioned towards accepting faked information that "shallow" (lol) fakes are already extremely effective. It's not "social media" w…

> To me, it's Pandora's Box.

That is an apt description. In the myth, Pandora closed the box after the horrors had escaped onto the world but while hope was still in there.

So... according to Pandora's tale, we live in a world where everything is terrible. And hopeless.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#78

Post by dawhizkid »

The CNN interview that aired today with some FB exec on this issue was such a cringe-worthy disaster. Could not answer why they made the decision to delete these profiles but would not delete a fake video of Pelosi slowed down meant to make her look drunk or stupid. It was wild.

Re: Facebook: Another three billion fake profiles culled

#79

Post by anonymous5133 »

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 account was non-us unverified. Then when the person actually did scam me, they immediately deleted the profile.

Needless to say, that was the last time I trusted random people on facebook.

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