Facebook has spent the last 15 years preventing users from connecting with other users or other entities (such as bands and celebrities etc) and now they’re creating fake users (who are NOT identified as fake as far as I can tell) and shoving this slop into the timelines of real users. From all reports, FB is flooded with this slop.
While mocking this stupidity is understandable, I’m concerned that it’s at the expense of pointing out that this is an inherent evil. There are two main reasons for fake accounts: money and influence. FB wants to separate real people with credit cards from their money. And they want to deliver power to politicians who will not regulate them or make them pay taxes.
Given the money angle — How long before FB is offering advertisers the ability to create fake profiles (without disclosure) and shove advertising slop into timelines? Ads that are not disclosed as ads. And that leads into the political half. Currently in the US there is at least some regulation of corporate practices that deceive consumers. And, of course, FB would like those protections to go away. And let’s not forget that the person at the top is a billionaire who doesn’t want to pay individual taxes either.