Facebook to zap zombie Page Likes

In a bid to improve the authenticity of Facebook Likes, the company has tweaked its systems to automatically remove malware-generated Likes from company Pages.

Facebook said Friday that it expects less than one per cent of Likes on any given Page will be removed by its campaign.

Its efforts are aimed squarely at marketing companies that trade non-genuine Likes to brands that are attempting to build their following on the social network.

“These newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users, or purchased bulk Likes,” said Facebook in a blog post.

Facebook said it has never permitted the purchase or sale of Likes since it undermines the feature’s integrity and provides an incentive for third-party vendors to use malware.

“Beyond the need to maintain authentic relationships on Facebook, these third-party vendors often attempt to use malware or other forms of deception to generate fraudulent Likes, which is harmful to all users and the internet as a whole,” it said.

Facebook also urged Page users to make sure that the marketing service they have contracted only use legitimate practices that do not violate its terms.

Follow @CSO_Australia and sign up to the CSO Australia newsletter.

• Tweet