Over 5.4billion fake Facebook accounts shut down

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that over 5.4 billion fake Facebook accounts have been closed this year, although millions of others are likely to have remained.

The latest announcement come as part of Facebook’s newest transparency report, which for the first time has included information about Instagram.

“Because our numbers are high doesn’t mean there’s that much more harmful content. It just means we’re working harder to identify this content and that’s why it’s higher,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.

Last year, 3.3 billion fake accounts were removed which reveals the challenges Facebook is facing in curbing fake users.

CNN reports that between April and September, Facebook took down roughly 3 million pieces of content that violated its policies against selling drugs.

The company reported that another 95,000 pieces of Instagram content related to gun sales were taken down.

Some of the data taken down from Instagram were also linked to child exploitation, suicide, self-injury and terrorist propaganda.

In recent times, Facebook has come under heavy criticism from activists and civil rights groups over the spread of hate speech and fake information on the platform.

According to CNN, the company is poised for a challenge as it prepares for a high stake election season in the United States.

Facebook is also bracing for the 2020 census with analysts and watchdogs anxious over the wave of fake and misleading content on social media.

Zuckerberg insists that the company is taking the issue seriously and calling on other platforms to make similar disclosures.