Facebook claims that it has deleted over 5 billion fake accounts

Amidst growing fears regarding misinformation and the fear of misuse of social media, Facebook has announced that it has taken down almost 5.4 billion fake accounts this year alone. This takedown was part of its ongoing efforts to tackle manipulation and misinformation.

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Tackling fake news

In its latest transparency report, officials from Facebook said that it has stepped up its defences and fake accounts are often deleted within minutes of being created. Facebook believes that 5% of all active users are fake accounts. Fake accounts as defined by Facebook means where someone pretends to be a person or entity they are not or does not exist.

In order to find out where data actually originated and to make sure that the data that is being spread is 'true', Facebook has invested heavily in finding and taking down fake accounts. These accounts usually intend to distribute misinformation with a certain political and social agenda.

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Filters not perfect: Facebook

Facebook also released that statistics regarding the governments that have requested user data. The country leading the pack is the US with the highest number of requests. US demand for user data grew by 16% to an astounding 128,617 in the first half of the year.

While admitting that the technologies and filters developed by Facebook are not perfect, Facebook said that it was actively trying to tackle posts related to terror, hate, suicide, child porn, and drug-related posts. Facebook again reiterated that it will continue to invest in systems and algorithms that improve its accuracy in identifying posts that violate its guidelines. Zuckerberg further said that Facebook spends billions every year in attempts to improve its algorithms.

Zuckerberg also responded to prevalent political rhetoric that taken over about the forced break up of Facebook. Mark Zuckerberg has fought against this move claiming that such an action would make it more difficult to identify anti-social behaviour.