Facebook says 83 million accounts may be fake, double

Toby Talbot

(CBS/AP) We've heard of people misrepresenting themselves on Facebook, but now the social network is saying that there could be tens of millions of fake accounts.

Facebook says there may be as many as 83 million false or duplicate accounts on its website.

The company said in its 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week that 8.7 percent of its 955 million monthly active users may be duplicate or false accounts. In May it estimated that 5 to 6 percent were such accounts.

Facebook said that about 4.8 percent of its active user accounts may have been duplicates as of June 30, while misclassified accounts likely represented about 2.4 percent of the total. These are accounts for pets or businesses that people set up as they would set up a human user's profile.

It's worth noting that Facebook didn't launched fan pages, now called Pages, until November 2007. Businesses, organizations and bands who wanted professional pages had to create an alternate Facebook profile, before fan pages were introduced.

Accounts that Facebook terms "undesirable," such as those used for spamming, represent about 1.5 percent of the total.

Facebook reports 955 million monthly active users and an estimated 543 million mobile users. The company filed for its IPO on February 1, with Morgan Stanley as its lead underwriter. The social network debuted on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol FB on May 18.

22 Photos

Facebook through the years

[acousticb1-2009]

Also, one blog actually recomends you have a fake profile because of another reason.....employers checking your profile.

[get_down]

I never used FB and won't use it anyway. I consider my photos and feeling are all private. Besides, even though I retired recently, in addition to outdoor and indoor house chores, I've plenty of hobbies which would keep me busy all day and all night long. You can't even pay me to use FB!

[jt92202]

Many people that plays the games have multiple sign ons so they can give themselves the items they need to finish their projects! The idea that people make up sign ons for their animals is just silly!

[KimmoMustonenen]

Yet another reason not to believe Facebook's recent earnings results. That number is much MUCH higher - probably around 200 million.

http://*********.com/blogs/onmedea/2012/07/24/should-we-believe-facebooks-earnings/