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Facebook HQ in Dublin. Niall Carson/AP

Facebook banned 583 million fake accounts in the first three months of the year

Facebook said those closures came on top of blocking millions of attempts to create fake accounts every day.

FACEBOOK BANNED 583 million fake accounts in the first three months of 2018, the social media giant has said, detailing how it enforces “community standards” against sexual or violent images, terrorist propaganda or hate speech.

Responding to calls for transparency after the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal, Facebook said those closures came on top of blocking millions of attempts to create fake accounts every day.

Despite this, the group said fake profiles still make up 3-4% of all active accounts.

It claimed to detect almost 100% of spam and to have removed 837 million posts assimilated to spam over the same period.

Facebook pulled or slapped warnings on nearly 30 million posts containing sexual or violent images, terrorist propaganda or hate speech during the first quarter of this year.

Improved technology using artificial intelligence had helped it act on 3.4 million posts containing graphic violence, nearly three times more than it had in the last quarter of 2017.

In 85.6% of the cases, Facebook said that it detected the images before being alerted to them by users, said the report, issued the day after the company said about 200 apps had been suspended on its platform as part of an investigation into misuse of private user data.

The figure represents between 0.22 and 0.27% of the total content viewed by Facebook’s more than two billion users from January through March.

“In other words, of every 10,000 content views, an estimate of 22 to 27 contained graphic violence,” the report said.

Referendum 

In Ireland, the social media giant has come under scrutiny and pressure to be more transparent in the run up to Ireland’s referendum on the Eighth Amendment on 25 May.

Concerns over foreign groups buying Facebook ads to target Irish voters ahead of the referendum prompted the company to implement a ban on its platform to all foreign ads in relation to the referendum.

However, there have still been calls for increased regulation from government over social media campaigns and political advertisements.

In its report Facebook said that responses to rule violations include removing content, adding warnings to content that may be disturbing to some users while not violating Facebook standards; and notifying law enforcement in case of a “specific, imminent and credible threat to human life”.

Improved IT also helped Facebook take action against 1.9 million posts containing terrorist propaganda, a 73% increase. Nearly all were dealt with before any alert was raised, the company said.

It attributed the increase to the enhanced use of photo detection technology.

Hate speech is harder to police using automated methods, however, as racist or homophobic hate speech is often quoted on posts by their targets or activists.

With reporting from Cormac Fitzgerald

© – AFP 2018

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    May 24th 2018, 12:01 PM

    If they didn’t hide the outcomes to save their own mistakes than it should not have been a problem. Dishonesty from the HSE is the problem.

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    Mute Ciaran Bolger
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    May 24th 2018, 12:27 PM

    @Hans Vos: no the problem, as with cervical screening is that NO test is 100% accurate and you will always have false negatives. It’s nobody’s ‘fault’.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    May 24th 2018, 12:52 PM

    @Ciaran Bolger: I agree that no test is 100% accurate. But hiding the results so woman didn’t know their test was suspicious and ultimately ended up in full blown cancers was.

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    Mute marg fitzgerald
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    May 24th 2018, 1:17 PM

    @Ciaran Bolger: false negatives might be nobody’s fault but covering up certainly was somebody’s fault.

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    Mute paul kelly
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    May 24th 2018, 2:17 PM

    @Hans Vos: In a blame culture like ours, informing a patient of a false negative will likely result in a legal action and collapse of the service- thats what they were afraid of , and that is what is going to happen.

    The breast screening program was hit with 15 solicitors letters- best course of action would be to stop “look back” audits -to protect the programs.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    May 24th 2018, 2:41 PM

    @paul kelly: So you saying that women who are in the past willingly misleaded can’t have their rights executed?

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    Mute paul kelly
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    May 24th 2018, 4:20 PM

    @Hans Vos:
    Of course you can , it just will cost millions.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    May 24th 2018, 4:45 PM

    @paul kelly: Don’t you think that being honest from the beginning could have avoided all the hassle. That’s the problem with the HSE . There are people, and don’t get me wrong not everybody, who think that they are more important than the truth. When it’s going wrong than they blame : 1 Somebody else.
    2 Politics
    .3 The system.
    4 The cost.
    And I can get on and on but they never blame them self.

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    Mute paul kelly
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    May 24th 2018, 5:57 PM

    @Hans Vos: No, being honest with a look back audit showing the screen to be a false negative will lead to a substantial payout.

    Solicitors are looking at a definite new income stream.

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    Mute Hans Vos
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    May 24th 2018, 7:13 PM

    @paul kelly: contrary to you I like to be honest.

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    Mute paul kelly
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    May 24th 2018, 7:18 PM

    @Hans Vos: Oh I believe honesty is the ideal , but it will cost hundreds of millions, the collapse of screning and the deaths of far more women.

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    Mute Linda Foley
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    May 25th 2018, 9:34 PM

    @paul kelly:
    Make that 16 from Monday next. There will be no collapse of the service that’s scaremongering. I never knew there was a look back service nobody ever mentioned it OR A REVIEW

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    Mute Jenny Kelleher
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    May 24th 2018, 12:01 PM

    I really hope that this is not:

    A) Another case of our healthcare system failing women
    B) People jumping on the bandwagon hoping to make a few euro!

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    Mute Tommy Byrne
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    May 24th 2018, 2:18 PM

    @Jenny Kelleher: I have to disagree with your statement about looking for a few quid… in most cases including the cervical cancer cases the hse deny everything and in fact try to cover up what has happened…. nobody goes to jail, nobody is held responsible… the only retribution these people receive is a pay out… and let me tell you that it’s not an easy decision to make about bringing a case because it is a long and very difficult process.. and is even more so difficult when all you can think is,what if people think I’m doing this just for money !!

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    Mute Damon16
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    May 24th 2018, 2:36 PM

    @Tommy Byrne: There was no cover up. There were false negative results discovered retrospectively (an inevitable feature of any screening programme), some women were told of this others weren’t due to failure of HSE procedures. There is no suggestion that the women’s outcomes were adversely affected as the prior false negatives were only discovered on review after a diagnosis of cancer had been made. The lawsuits pertain to the false negatives themselves. If a situation emerges where there are payouts for every false negative result then the screening programmes will be driven to bankruptcy as false negatives are an inherent statistical feature of large scale screening programmes.

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    Mute Tommy Byrne
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    May 24th 2018, 2:55 PM

    @Damon16: in the cervical cancer cases it most definitely was a cover up … and who is to say there isn’t something similar happening here ? We don’t know the facts of any of the future cases that may come of this. All we are hearing is one side of the story so far… so to judge people as only in it for a few quid is very wrong

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    Mute Linda Foley
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    May 25th 2018, 9:20 PM

    @Tommy Byrne:
    Indeed ..very wrong

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    Mute Damon16
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    May 24th 2018, 12:49 PM

    The medical profession and the Gov need to do a better job explaining to the public the difference between a screening test and a diagnostic test. A screening test such as breast check will invariably have some false negatives results. The Gov need to introduce legislation capping or limiting claims in the context of screening programmes. If they don’t the HSE is the HSE are going to stop running screening tests and or not bring in new screening tests due to legal exposure. This will cost many lives.

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    Mute Fiona Fitzgerald
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    May 24th 2018, 2:16 PM

    Alternatively, push for a national Irish healthcare system that looks after patients to internationally recognised, excellent standards. Adopt a class action suit with one aim; justice and improved medical standards. Don’t force individuals to take individual cases and slog through alone. Too many people end up going abroad – men who need hip replacements badly, and have been waiting in pain on long lists, for example. Don’t inflict symphysiotomy on women while the rest of the world is not crippling their own citizens with decades-old clumsy practices. Don’t sweep the outcomes under the carpet until a few suffering families have to spend all their resources to highlight real and ongoing issues and appeal to higher courts separately until they die and the files are closed.

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    Mute Sean Ryan
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    May 24th 2018, 12:20 PM

    There are lots of pros and cons to screening. Some medics (and not crackpots) would argue against most kinds of screening and a lot of unnecessary screening takes places privately (ie a money spinner). Total transparency and full disclosures are needed in public and private health care.

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    May 24th 2018, 12:32 PM

    Do they not have ambulances to chase?

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    Mute Paul Maguire
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    May 24th 2018, 1:31 PM

    It’s no good in trying to shift the blame for problem onto women who had smear checks carried out on systemic failure on the HSE full stop.

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    Mute Anthony Gallagher
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    May 24th 2018, 2:34 PM

    The circus continues with the legal profession rubbing their hands with glee ,the government have to take responsibility ,this has been kept back from the media to prevent the effects it may have on the referendum .again no accountability ,put your trust in LEO and simon everything will just be fine

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    Mute @mdmak33
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    May 24th 2018, 12:31 PM

    My god,these people think the public are fools.

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    Mute paul kelly
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    May 24th 2018, 2:19 PM

    @@mdmak33: Clearly some are.

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    Mute The Irish Bull
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    May 24th 2018, 7:23 PM

    Where were the tests carried out?
    Were they the cheapest option?

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    Mute Sean Ryan
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    May 24th 2018, 7:51 PM

    @The Irish Bull: tested in Ireland and results read in Ireland. Totally different process to cervical screening.

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