Of course, Facebook prides itself on the principle of “real identity” and it wants the same authenticity to extend to its Pages, and this drastic move is squarely aimed 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.
The social media company further explained the move saying, “A Like that does not come from someone truly interested in connecting with a Page benefits no one,” Facebook security personnel mentioned in an August 31 blog post. “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.”
The company says that the number of Likes, or approvals by users, on corporate pages is most likely to drop by less than 1% of any given Page Likes, after the crackdown, and that the average user will probably not even notice the changes, Facebook’s blog announced.
The social media powerhouse claims that, “While we have always had dedicated protections against each of these threats on Facebook, these improved systems have been specifically configured to identify and take action against suspicious Likes,” the post continued.
Facebook says that it has never permitted the purchase or sale of Likes as we only want people connecting to the Pages and brands with whom they have chosen to connect, and gaining fake Likes undermines the features 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.
In order to make sure that all interactions between users and goods/services featured on Facebook pages are legitimate, the company advised Page users to especially confirm that the marketing service they have contracted only use legitimate practices that do not violate its terms.
As a matter of fact, Facebook had earlier instituted some safeguards against automated Likes. But some companies did seek to violate Facebook’s terms of service to increase their reach on the social media hub by purchasing Likes in bulk.
On the other hand, tightening Facebook’s security measures are devised to enhance brands’ connections with their customers, making sure that the social network remains an authentic advertising platform. Brands will also be able to gauge a more accurate measurement of demographics and fans, Facebook says.
However, according to Facebook, “This improvement will allow Pages to produce ever more relevant and interesting content, and brands will see an increase in the true engagement around their content,” says Facebook.
Finally, the clean-up also means users would not be bothered as much by viral spam that deceives users into liking brand content through fake videos or photos.