The social network announced earlier this month that it would undergo a massive deletion process to rid the site of fake accounts, comments and likes.
The new security initiative comes after the site admitted in a SEC filing in August that out of its 955 million monthly active users, approximately 83 million accounts were found to be false.
TechCrunch reported today that the social network confirmed it has started the process, with many top pages on Facebook having lost tens of thousands of fans already.
At the time of writing, Zynga’s Texas holdem fan page has already lost 103,514.
Photo Credit: PageData
"A Like that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a Page benefits no one, said Facebook in a statement about its new security measures.
"Real identity, for both users and brands on Facebook, is important to not only Facebook’s mission of helping the world share, but also the need for people and customers to authentically connect to the Pages they care about. When a Page and fan connect on Facebook, we want to ensure that connection involves a real person interested in hearing from a specific Page and engaging with that brand’s content."
Facebook estimates that less than 1% of likes on any brand page will be removed. The social network’s new security system aims to eliminate any Likes gained by malware, fake account or purchased likes.
"To be clear, we do not and have never permitted the purchase or sale of Facebook Likes as we only want people connecting to the Pages and brands with whom they have chosen to connect," said the company.
Facebook aims for the new effort to help foster sincere brand engagement and give advertisers a more accurate measurement of demographics and fan count.
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