Facebook Says it May Have Over 100 Million Duplicate or False Accounts

Social networking site Facebook said it may have over 100 million 'duplicate' accounts, with the percentage of these accounts being higher in developing markets such as India, besides 5 to 15 million 'undesirable' accounts registered with it worldwide, as per the company's estimations.

"There may be individuals who maintain one or more Facebook accounts in violation of our terms of service. We estimate, for example, that 'duplicate' accounts (an account that a user maintains in addition to his or her principal account) may have represented between approximately 4.3 percent and 7.9 percent of our worldwide MAUs (Monthly Active User) in 2013," Facebook said in the SEC filing.

According to the latest quarterly report, Facebook said the percentage of duplicate or false accounts is higher in developing markets such as India and Turkey.

As of March 31, 2014, the site had 1.28 billion MAUs, an increase of 15 percent from last March 31. Users in India and Brazil represented key sources of growth in the first quarter of 2014 relative to the same period in 2013, the filing with SEC said.

"In 2013, for example, we estimate user-misclassified accounts may have represented between approximately 0.8 percent and 2.1 percent of our worldwide MAUs and undesirable accounts may have represented between approximately 0.4 percent and 1.2 percent of our worldwide MAUs," it further said.

User-misclassified accounts, are the profiles created by users for a business, organisation, or non-human entity such as a pet while undesirable accounts, are user profiles that are intended to be used for purposes that violate terms of service, such as spamming.

Facebook further said the estimations of duplicate or false accounts 'may not' accurately represent the actual number of such accounts and the social website is continually seeking to improve ability to identify duplicate or false accounts and estimate the total number of such accounts, and such estimates may change due to improvements or changes in its methodology.

Worldwide mobile MAUs increased 34 percent to 1.01 billion as of March 31, 2014 from 751 million as of March 31, 2013.

In all regions, an increasing number of MAUs are accessing Facebook through mobile devices, with users in India, Brazil, and the United States representing key sources of mobile MAU growth over the first quarter of 2014, as compared to the same period in 2013.

Worldwide Daily Active Users (DAU) increased 21 percent to 802 million on average during March 2014 from 665 million during March 2013 due to growth across major markets including Brazil, India, and the United States.

Overall growth in DAUs was driven largely by increased mobile usage of Facebook.

The number of DAUs accessing Facebook on personal computers decreased in March 2014 compared to the same period in 2013, Facebook further said.