Fake profiles could be responsible for a significant proportion of Facebook ‘likes’, causing inflated figures that lead brands and advertisers to waste time and money on social media campaigns, according to a new report.
A BBC investigation contacted security experts and social marketing professionals and found that fake profiles are common on Facebook.
These fake profiles are responsible for thousands of “Likes” each, throwing into doubt the validity of accounts that companies are advertising to.
BBC reporter Rory Cellan-Jones set up a site for West London company VirtualBagel on Facebook.
To publicise it, he booked a modest $10 ad campaign on the social network.
By the end of his campaign’s first week, VirtualBagel had 2999 likes.
The problem was that VirtualBagel doesn’t exist beyond its Facebook page. No one could actually have appreciated its service, or eaten any of its bagels, because it doesn’t make any.
VirtualBagel’s site consisted of a brief statement on how one day it would like to offer bagels for download.
Cellan-Jones says mainly people in Malaysia, the Philippines and – especially – Egypt. He highlighted one Cairo-based fan – who goes by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo (as in the footballer) who liked thousands of brands- suggesting the ‘fan’ is actually a computer program.
It also appears many account holders who click on the links have lied about their personal details.
Facebook estimates the number of fakes at five to six percent, which is about 54 million profiles (out of 901 million accounts in total).
Security experts say that spammers and malware authors are using those fake accounts to build networks that can trick real users into helping them spread dangerous links and spam.
For advertisers, the web of false accounts could mean that many of the “customers” they think are interested in their businesses are in fact fake accounts, directed in the thousands by a single malware author.
Facebook charges advertisers for the kind of targeted marketing made available by user “Likes,” and it is uncertain how much these fake accounts impact the efficacy of ads companies buy on the social network.
Facebook maintains that fake profiles are not a significant problem on the site. Advertisers apparently have not complained about a wave of fake accounts either.
Read the BBC investigation in full here
Go to the Virtual Bagel Facebook page here
