Facebook 'Likes' Inflated by Fake Accounts [REPORT]

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To probe the matter, the British news organization set up a Facebook Page for a made-up company with no products called Virtual Bagel. Shortly after creating the Page on July 4, the account netted more than 3,000 "Likes." The BBC then perused the profiles of those fans and found a disproportionate number from Egypt and the Philippines. Among them: A Cairo-based fan who called himself Ahmed Ronaldo and claimed to work for Real Madrid.

The article also quotes a social media marketing consultant named Michael Tinmouth, who ran a similar probe on behalf of a number of his small business clients. Once again, a number of suspicious accounts emerged from Egypt and the Philippines. "They were 13 to 17 years old, the profile names were highly suspicious, and when we dug deeper a number of these profiles were liking 3,000, 4,000, even 5,000 pages," Tinmouth told the BBC.

Tinmouth told the news organization that he disputed payment with Facebook over advertising after his research revealed that he hadn't reached "real people." A Facebook rep told the BBC that Tinmouth hadn't bought the advertising based on targeted demographic information, but rather took a scattershot approach. "We would never recommend that anyone conduct business in this way," the rep told the BBC.

Facebook reps could not be reached for further comment on the report.

The social network has admitted that 5% to 6% of its accounts -- or somewhere around 50 million -- are fake.