Facebook Shuts Down 5.4 Bln Fake Accounts in 2019

Facebook annuonced that it has shut down 5.4 billion fake accounts, so far this year, on its main platform, but millions likely remain.

The social networking giant said in a statement as much as 5% of its monthly user base of nearly 2.5 billion consists of fake accounts, despite advances in technology that have allowed Facebook to catch more fake accounts the moment they are created.

The company noted that in 2018 it has removed roughly 3.3 billion fake accounts.

The closure of fake accounts highlights the efforts excerted by the company as it prepares for a high-stakes election season in the United States.

According to CNN, analysts and watchdogs are bracing for a wave of fake and misleading content on social media following revelations about election meddling in 2016.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlined the large number of fake accounts that have been shut down as a sign of how seriously the company is taking this issue and called on other platforms to make similar disclosures.

"Because our numbers are high doesn't mean there's that much more harmful content. It just means we're working harder to identify this content and that's why it's higher," he told reported in a conference call.

Earlier in the year, Facebook said it closed more than 2 billion face accounts in the period from January to March. Over the next three months, it removed relatively fewer fake accounts— 1.5 billion — which Facebook attributed to improvements in its blocking of new fakes.

"But the number is on the rise again: Facebook's latest report shows it eliminated 1.7 billion fake accounts from July to September," CNN calculated.

Facebook has come under increasing pressure from minority activists and civil rights groups over the spread of hate speech on its platform. Days ago, civil rights leaders met with Zuckerberg to press him on the ways that pisive, hurtful language can disproportionately harm vulnerable populations on social media.