Facebook deletes millions of accounts in 2025 content protection effort
The move comes amid a broader trend of major tech platforms tightening account management, with Google and Samsung previously issuing deletion warnings for inactive users. However, Facebook's actions differ significantly — targeting active accounts linked to impersonation, fake engagement, and spam.
A July 14 announcement on the Facebook Creators blog detailed the rationale behind the mass removals, stating:
'We believe that creators should be celebrated for their unique voices and perspectives, not drowned out by copycats and impersonators.'
The announcement referenced ongoing threats across digital platforms, including impersonation scams, which have affected users across services like Amazon Prime. Meta said its crackdown is part of a commitment to ensure original content is visible and rewarded.
Since January, Meta said it has removed approximately 10 million fake accounts impersonating popular content creators. An additional 500,000 accounts engaged in spam or fake engagement saw their reach reduced, comments demoted, and monetization suspended.
'Facebook aims to be a place where original content thrives,' the company emphasized. 'We will continue taking action to protect creators and the broader community.'
Following Meta's blog post, social media lit up with complaints from users alleging that their accounts were wrongly deleted.
'I strongly believe this purge, while framed as a safety measure, is sweeping up innocent people and branding them as criminals without recourse or transparency,' one user wrote.
Another advised searching terms like 'Meta ban wave' on Reddit, TikTok, or Twitter, pointing to hundreds of reports of legitimate Facebook and Instagram accounts being disabled without warning.
While Meta has acknowledged a 'technical error' affecting Facebook Groups, it maintains there is no evidence of widespread erroneous enforcement across its platforms. A Meta spokesperson stated:
'We take action on accounts that violate our policies, and people can appeal if they think we've made a mistake.'
The company confirmed that AI is used in the content moderation process, but rejected claims that artificial intelligence was wrongly flagging large volumes of user accounts.
For many users, particularly creators and public figures vulnerable to impersonation, the purge has been seen as a positive move toward a safer, more trustworthy online environment. However, the growing number of complaints from regular users caught in the crossfire is prompting questions about transparency and the limits of automated enforcement.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Kuwait Times
2 hours ago
- Kuwait Times
Meta to ban political ads in EU due to bloc's ‘unworkable' rules
BRUSSELS: Meta on Friday said it will be forced to ban political advertising on its platforms in the European Union from October because of rules the Facebook and Instagram owner called 'unworkable'. The EU has a bolstered legal armory to rein in Big Tech, against which Meta has hit out - with the support of US President Donald Trump's administration. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been highly critical of European rules, accusing Brussels in January of 'censorship' while this week the US State Department denounced the EU's 'Orwellian' regulation of social media. Against this uneasy backdrop, and with EU-US trade tensions sky-high, Meta announced that political, electoral and social issue advertising will no longer be allowed from October in the bloc because of 'unworkable requirements' under new rules. 'This is a difficult decision - one we've taken in response to the EU's incoming Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising (TTPA) regulation,' it said. 'Unfortunately, the TTPA introduces significant, additional obligations to our processes and systems that create an untenable level of complexity and legal uncertainty for advertisers and platforms operating in the EU,' Meta added. The tech giant stressed that its European users would still be able to post and debate about politics. The EU says its political advertising rules seek to increase transparency in online advertising after Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal, which came to light in 2018. Cambridge Analytica was a consulting firm that was found to have improperly accessed personal data from millions of Facebook users for targeted political advertising, particularly during the 2016 US election and Brexit referendum. The change is set to impact Meta's flagship platforms Facebook and Instagram, as well as WhatsApp - which is largely ad-free but announced in June it would be introducing new advertising features in some parts of the app. Meta said it was 'not the only company to have been forced into this position'. Google last year announced it would also prevent political advertising in the EU from October 2025 because of the 'significant new operational challenges and legal uncertainties'. Meta and Brussels have locked horns on a series of issues - most recently over the firm's 'pay or consent' system regarding user data. The EU slapped a 200-million-euro ($235-million) fine in April after concluding Meta violated rules on the use of personal data on Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg has previously equated EU fines against the company to tariffs. Facebook and Instagram also face investigations under the EU's mammoth content moderation law known as the Digital Services Act (DSA). Meta's announcement comes as US officials ramp up their attacks on the DSA. The State Department took aim at the DSA on Tuesday as it accused European countries of convicting thousands of people 'for the crime of criticizing their own governments,' without elaborating on the allegation. And the judiciary committee of the US House of Representatives on Friday described the EU law as a 'foreign censorship threat' that forces 'platforms to change content moderation policies that apply in the United States'. 'On paper, the DSA is bad. In practice, it is even worse,' the Republican-majority committee said in an interim report. Staunch Trump ally Jim Jordan, committee chair, will meet the EU's digital chief, Henna Virkkunen, in Brussels on Monday. Jordan will be joined by other US Congress members in a bipartisan delegation, EU digital spokesman Thomas Regnier said. The European Commission rejected the censorship claims. 'Freedom of expression is a fundamental right in the EU. And it is at the heart of our legislation, including the DSA,' Regnier said.- AFP
Arab Times
4 days ago
- Arab Times
Trump to reveal ‘AI Action Plan' shaped by his Silicon Valley supporters
WASHINGTON, July 23, (AP): An artificial intelligence agenda formed on the podcasts of Silicon Valley billionaires is now being set into US policy as President Donald Trump leans on the ideas of the tech figures who backed his election campaign. Trump plans on Wednesday to reveal an "AI Action Plan' he ordered after revoking President Joe Biden's signature AI guardrails. The plan and related executive orders are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches: accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings that are needed to form and run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday's event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year. The tech industry has pushed for easier permitting to get huge data centers connected to power and water - even if it means consumers losing drinking water and paying higher energy bills. On Tuesday, 95 groups including labor unions, parent groups, environmental justice organizations and privacy advocates signed a resolution opposing Trump's embrace of industry-driven AI policy and calling for a "People's AI Action Plan' that would "deliver first and foremost for the American people.' Amba Kak, co-executive director of the AI Now Institute, which helped lead the effort, said the coalition expects Trump's plan to come "straight from Big Tech's mouth.' "Every time we say, 'What about our jobs, our air, water, our children?' they're going to say, 'But what about China?'' she said Tuesday. She said Americans should reject the White House's argument that artificial intelligence is overregulated, and fight to preserve "baseline protections for the public.' Sacks, a former PayPal executive and now Trump's top AI adviser, has been criticizing "woke AI' for more than a year, fueled by Google's February 2024 rollout of an AI image generator that, when asked to show an American Founding Father, created pictures of Black, Asian and Native American men. Google quickly fixed its tool, but the "Black George Washington' moment remained a parable for the problem of AI's perceived political bias, taken up by X owner Elon Musk, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, Vice President JD Vance and Republican lawmakers. "The AI's incapable of giving you accurate answers because it's been so programmed with diversity and inclusion,' Sacks said at the time. Elon Musk's xAI, pitched as an alternative to "woke AI' companies, had to scramble this month to remove posts made by its Grok chatbot that made antisemitic comments and praised Adolf Hitler. The All-In Podcast is a business and technology show hosted by four tech investors and entrepreneurs including Trump's AI czar, David Sacks. The plan and related executive orders to be announced late Wednesday afternoon are expected to include some familiar tech lobby pitches - including accelerating the sale of AI technology abroad and making it easier to construct the energy-hungry data center buildings needed to run AI products, according to a person briefed on Wednesday's event who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. It might also include some of the AI culture war preoccupations of the circle of venture capitalists who endorsed Trump last year.
Arab Times
5 days ago
- Arab Times
'Free' apps, costly privacy: Experts warn of data-hungry downloads
NEW YORK, July 22: Some of the world's most widely used smartphone apps have come under scrutiny for demanding extensive access to personal data, often beyond what's necessary for basic functionality, according to a new investigation by consumer watchdog Which? The study, conducted with cybersecurity experts from Hexiosec, analyzed 20 popular Android apps spanning social media, online shopping, smart home, and fitness categories. The findings reveal that all of them requested "risky" permissions—such as access to users' microphone, location, and device files—raising significant privacy concerns. While apps like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Amazon, and WhatsApp are marketed as free, Which? warns that users are often paying with their personal information. 'Millions of us rely on apps each day for everything from health tracking to shopping,' said Harry Rose, editor of Which? 'But our research shows that users may be surrendering vast amounts of data—often unknowingly.' Together, the 20 apps have been downloaded more than 28 billion times globally. If installed on one device, these apps would collectively request 882 permissions. Among these, Xiaomi Home requested the highest number — 91 permissions in total, five of which were flagged as risky. Risky permissions include those that allow apps to record audio, access precise GPS location, read internal files, or even overlay content on top of other apps—often without any clear user benefit. Samsung's SmartThings app followed with 82 requested permissions (eight risky), with Facebook demanding 69 (six risky), and WhatsApp asking for 66 (six risky). The apps that sought permission to draw over other apps—creating pop-ups—and those that activate when a phone is turned on, were also cause for concern. TikTok, for instance, requested 41 permissions (three risky), and YouTube sought 47 (four risky). Xiaomi Home and AliExpress were the only two apps found to send user data to servers in China, including suspected advertising networks. While this was disclosed in both apps' privacy policies, experts noted the potential implications for user data security. AliExpress requested six risky permissions, including precise location, microphone access, and file reading. It also sent users an overwhelming 30 promotional emails within a month, despite no specific permission request for email marketing. Temu, another Chinese online retailer, was criticized for aggressively pushing users into subscribing to marketing emails—often without them realizing it. The Which? team advised consumers to take several steps to safeguard their privacy: Review privacy info: Check what data an app collects before downloading it via the app store listing.n Read the privacy policy: Focus especially on sections detailing data collection and sharing.n Limit or revoke permissions: On both Android and iOS, users can manage what data apps can access through Settings.n Delete apps you don't trust: Uninstall apps you're unsure about, and make sure all associated account data is deleted.n Some apps, like Ring and WhatsApp, may require microphone access for core functionality. However, the necessity of certain permissions—like tracking which apps are open or recently used—is questionable, the experts said. Apps including Facebook, WhatsApp, AliExpress, and Strava were found to seek such permissions. The research was conducted using Android devices; permission settings may differ for Apple iOS users. In response to the findings: Meta (owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp) claimed none of its apps access microphones in the background without user consent.n Samsung stated that all its apps comply with UK data protection laws and ICO guidance.n TikTok emphasized that privacy and security are 'built into every product' and that it collects only essential information.n Strava defended its use of precise location data as necessary to deliver its services, adding that it employs 'appropriate guardrails' for data usage.n Amazon said its permissions enable features like visualizing products using the camera and voice search, with users having control over personalized ads.n AliExpress stated that certain permissions are not used in the UK and require user consent, asserting compliance with privacy laws.n Ring maintained that it doesn't use trackers for advertising and only uses permissions to enable features requested by users.n Temu said GPS-based address completion is not used in the UK and that it handles user data in accordance with international standards.n
