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DonoftheDead
Old diver
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join:2004-07-12
Clinton, WA

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DonoftheDead

Premium Member

More FB fakery

Not sure this belongs in Security but since it involves FB, the data vampire, I thought folks here might be interested. This from Zerohedge: "Facebook Slides After Report Claims 50% Of Its Users Are Fake"

"As bad as things have been for Facebook since the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke one year ago, one team of researchers, led by a former peer of Mark Zuckerberg at Harvard who created one of the original Facebook prototypes, thinks the reality of the company's circumstances is even more dire than investors realize.

In a report published Thursday by PlainSite, an independent research shop led by Aaron Greenspan, analysts calculated that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been regularly lying to investors and the public about the company's user metrics, and that the company could be overestimating the number of users by as much as 50%.

The team detailed their findings in a 70-page report published on their website.

Facebook has been lying to the public about the scale of its problem with fake accounts, which likely exceed 50% of its network.
Its official metrics—many of which it has stopped reporting quarterly—are self-contradictory and even farcical. The company has lost control of its own product.


Ultimately, this is just the latest sign that Facebook - formerly one of the world's most successful companies - is doomed to go the way of CompuServe and AOL."

»www.zerohedge.com/news/2 ··· are-fake

OldNavyGuy
join:2018-07-24
Newberg, OR

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OldNavyGuy

Member

Zero Hedge seems to be fake as well...

»mediabiasfactcheck.com/z ··· o-hedge/
Shady Bimmer
Premium Member
join:2001-12-03

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Shady Bimmer

Premium Member

Sadly, when it comes to any type of media, via any type of delivery or from any platform, pretty much everything should be considered suspect. The days of any form of integrity or reliability are long gone.

In other words those whining about social media platforms via their own media postings are just as likely to be making sh*t up as the very platforms they are discussing.

This is no longer news and is just an endless stream of those with personal interests trying to claim their 15 minutes or (worse) are trying to obtain a perhaps less-than-ethical financial benefit similarly.

As for what is actually claimed - Name a company that has revenue in some form from advertising (direct or derived) and I'll show you a company that "fudges" the relevant "subscriber" metrics. . . .that's nothing new.
HELLFIRE
MVM
join:2009-11-25

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HELLFIRE to DonoftheDead

MVM

to DonoftheDead
"The irony of the Information Age is that it has given new respectability to the uninformed opinion." -John Lawton

My 00000010bits

Regards
Shady Bimmer
Premium Member
join:2001-12-03

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Shady Bimmer

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^^^^
If I could give 100 thumbs up to this I would!

antdude
Matrix Ant
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join:2001-03-25
US

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antdude to OldNavyGuy

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to OldNavyGuy
"Fake news!" [grin]

jbob
Reach Out and Touch Someone
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jbob to DonoftheDead

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to DonoftheDead
I Admin a few Facebook Groups/Pages. One of the larger ones last week all of a sudden lost about 2k members. It had been around 17k I think. FB posted some message about deleting people who seem to never post or something to that effect. Happened to a bunch of groups it seems.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
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join:2005-01-14
Fort Wayne, IN

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Blackbird to DonoftheDead

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to DonoftheDead
FWIW, in the interests of objectivity, it might be useful for folks to peruse the 70 pages of the original report pdf file at »www.plainsite.org/realit ··· ook.html wherein the following quote can be found:

Taking all of these factors into account, we estimate that 50% or more of Facebook’s current MAUs are actually fake. Facebook has already disclosed that since Q4 2017, as a conservative estimate, it has deleted 2.841 billion fake accounts on a network purporting to have 2.271 billion current MAUs, amounting to 55% of all accounts ever created.

While the report's author may (or may not) have some personal biases towards Zuckerberg, most of his criticisms revolve around disapproval of Zuck's fuzzy ethics track record dating from college days to present, and political leanings/orientations/biases don't appear to play any role in the report. On the contrary, a great many negative or revelatory references and quotes therein are from what would be described by most people as mainstream/liberal media.

A key argument in the report is that Facebook has no practical way of truly discerning which of its accounts are faked, either via AI or human inspection - and that such determination may not even be possible, period.
HELLFIRE
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join:2009-11-25

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HELLFIRE to DonoftheDead

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to DonoftheDead
said by Blackbird:

A key argument in the report is that Facebook has no practical way of truly discerning which of its accounts are faked, either via AI or human inspection - and that such determination may not even be possible, period.

Never mind the unspoken matter is it really in Facebook's interest to do anything about it? Especially with all those
advertising dollars hanging in front of them? [/cynic]

Regards

ashrc4
Premium Member
join:2009-02-06
australia

ashrc4 to DonoftheDead

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to DonoftheDead
Well it said it has deleted 2.841 billion fake accounts already.
That would save some money on the power bill and speed up refresh rates etc.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
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Davesnothere to HELLFIRE

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to HELLFIRE
said by HELLFIRE:

said by Blackbird:

A key argument in the report is that Facebook has no practical way of truly discerning which of its accounts are faked, either via AI or human inspection - and that such determination may not even be possible, period.

Never mind the unspoken matter is it really in Facebook's interest to do anything about it? Especially with all those
advertising dollars hanging in front of them? [/cynic]

Regards


Your cynicism is well-placed, IMNSHO.

I have long alleged that FaceBook's userbase figures are exaggerated, and for exactly that reason.

When you cannot see a user's account unless you join, it forces other family members and real-world friends of users to go thru that formality.

I wouldn't call those folks active, for the most part, and I do not see it as a stretch to suggest that there are as many tag-along accounts as active ones at FaceBook.

So half of the accounts, may not be fake, but are not doing much.

cowboyro
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CT

cowboyro to DonoftheDead

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to DonoftheDead

"Facebook Slides After Report Claims 50% Of Its Users Are Fake"

the company could be overestimating the number of users by as much as 50%

Overestimating by 50% would mean that 33% are fake.
But yes, there are dead/abandoned accounts (or accounts of people who have died). I have 1 good and 1 fake, my wife has 2 or 3 fake (for work/development purposes). I have 5 deceased people on my (not so big) list.

Blackbird
Built for Speed
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Blackbird to DonoftheDead

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Where the problem really impacts is that Facebook sets its marketing pricing rates based on its number of accounts and user viewings. Its corporate stock valuation also factors in the number of accounts and a key company growth rate is based on change in number of accounts. If the number of genuine, active, human accounts is high by significant amounts (and 1/2 or 1/3 is "significant"), the rates and valuations are inflated as well. Viewings are impacted by the accuracy of counting Facebook-related clicks, and there have been reported incidents where click-farms of servers (operated primarily in Asia) have robotically inflated the viewings counts of some accounts as well. An increasing awareness of this kind of dry-rot is woven into some of the recent stock price movement.

ashrc4
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join:2009-02-06
australia

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ashrc4 to cowboyro

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to cowboyro
said by cowboyro:

"Facebook Slides After Report Claims 50% Of Its Users Are Fake"

the company could be overestimating the number of users by as much as 50%

Overestimating by 50% would mean that 33% are fake.

No UP TO 33% which means the worst of something that they are trying to predict.
Technically "up to" is advertizing speak for it could be as little as greater than zero
Had they wished to give a more meaningful figure they could have said the prediction should be around 20-33%
I personally think burying the facts in a 70 page report that chose to make it appear as 50% of, they wished to do maximum impact with their headlines and facts.
If they deleted over half of their existing accounts already and face difficulties with whats left plus dead people accounts remain they are doing a reasonable job.
Most advertisers prefer targeted adds. I.e. company x wants to target active people that like sports and beer to push a new product line aimed specifically.
Would this include fake or unused accounts..... yes. Let me make up my own figure prediction. 3% of a targeted add run is probably not meeting the advertisers goal/target.