If you don’t count the mass amount of app “updates” in the news feed, Facebook has done an okay job on limiting spam (some apps on the other hand like to spam at will). That seems to have changed about 10 days ago. Someone has been generating large numbers of fake accounts that only have two pieces of data: a profile picture (usually an indecent picture of a woman) and a single wall entry about winning a free iPhone (with a link to the site).
Some how I’ve ended up on their list of people to abuse with friend requests. Days with 20 or more friend requests from these fake iPhone give away accounts is not unusual. That is no where near the number of spam emails and comments I get on an average day, but I’d rather see a trend towards less spam, not more. That and Gmail does a reasonable job of filtering out email spam and Akismet takes care of the comment spam.
Facebook is a giant target for spammers, with so many people actively using the site it is a temptation they simply can’t pass up. Finding ways to crack down on fake accounts is the major issue. Once a fake account is in the system then it has the potential for relaying spam. The ideal solution would be to identify these accounts as they are being created and prevent them from becoming active.
I’m not a big user of Facebook, but I wish them the best of luck at solving this issue, because reducing the amount of spam on the Internet makes the world a better place.
6 replies on “Facebook Spam Is On The Rise”
I have probably had 20 people try to add me as a ‘friend’ that were clearly spam profiles. Not only does it harm the Facebook experience but it creates a sense that their security is not great which makes me worry about my personal information security. Do you know what steps are being taken to hammer down on this?
I don’t really see this is a security issue, someone is just creating fake accounts and using them to spam others.
Facebook is a double-edged sword; I love it and hate it. It is awesome to connect with friends and family but boundaries become blurred with business associates asking for friendship. I hate to ignore requests only to have them ask me in person, “Hey did you get my FB friend request.” I reply, “Um, er…..yeah!”
The advent of lists has certainly made things better. But I have one guy that keeps inviting me to all these causes. I value his friendship but there is a limit man!
Sincerely.
Daniel Tetreault.
Victoria, BC
Not only do I agree with the above commentary, but I would like to add that Twitter is even worse than facebook.
I generally only add people as friends that I actually know in real life.
I have seen bursts of spam on Twitter, though I don’t recall any lately. That might be because I have no problem un-following someone and intentionally keep the list of people I follow small.