Facebook Deleted 3 Billion Fake Accounts From October To March To Tackle Fake News, Hate Speech

In a crackdown on fake accounts, social media giant Facebook removed 3 billion such accounts from its platform between October to March. Most of these accounts were removed before they could become active users on their platform, reports The Hindu.

According to the report, of the 2.4 billion monthly active users, the social media company estimates nearly 119 million, or 5 percent, accounts to be fake.

The increase shows the challenges Facebook faces in removing accounts created by computers to spread spam, fake news and other objectionable material

The company in a new report said that it saw a steep increase in the creation of abusive, fake accounts. While most of these fake accounts were blocked within minutes of creation, the use of computers to generate millions of accounts at a time meant not only that Facebook caught more of the fake accounts, but that more of them slipped through.

The company found more than 65 per cent of hate speech during the first three months of 2019 by its self, before being reported by the users, which is an improvement from the third quarter of 2018 where it was 52 per cent.

The social media company employs thousands of people and uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to review posts, videos of violation and comments.