Fake profiles on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are pretty common, whether they are used for spam marketing, scams, and so on. However we imagine that most of these platforms probably have a handle on such matters, or do they? That’s what Facebook critic Aaron Greenspan seems to suggest in a report (via Mashable) where he alleges that half of Facebook’s reported monthly active users are actually fake.According to the report, “The fact of the matter is that Facebook does not now and will not ever have an accurate way to measure its fake account problem. Taking all of these factors into account, we estimate that 50 percent or more of Facebook’s current MAUs are actually fake.” Greenspan and Facebook have a bit of a contentious past over the term “the Face Book”.
This trademark issue was said to have been resolved way back in 2009, but it seems that Greenspan is still not a huge fan of the company. On their end, Facebook has denied Greenspan’s allegations where in a statement issued by the company, “This is unequivocally wrong and responsible reporting means reporting facts, even if it’s about fake accounts.”
Like we said, fake accounts are to be expected of most social networks and online services, but whether or not it is as high as 50% remains to be seen.
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