By: Jerry Nix | Freewavemaker, LLC

Date Published: December 21, 2023

It should be called …

Fakebook controlled by knuckleheads with the chief knucklehead being …

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Incorporated (owner of Facebook).

As a young college student, he had a great idea of bringing old friends together where they could have conversations about most anything they cared to discuss.

But then, when he took Facebook Public – like most Chief Executive Officers … he got real money hungry and catered to advertisers on the platform more than the users of the platform. The advertisers are what fills his pockets, bank accounts and various investment accounts. He’s forgotten the simple fact that if there were no “users” there would be no advertisers.

How do they make their money?

In doing research on Meta Inc. income streams, for my own investment reasons, I came up with the following for the year 2022:

• Advertising: $114.9 billion (97%)
• Payments: $2.9 billion (2%)
• Other: $0.1 billion (1%)

The other (3%) is a small amount of revenue from other sources, such as payments from Oculus VR headset sales and fees from in-app purchases on its platforms. However, advertising is by far Meta’s main source of revenue.

Next, I wanted to know just how advertisers on Facebook pay for ads and this is what I found:

I needed to know if Facebook was paid more from advertisers if they had more users and this is what I found:

Facebook gets more money from advertisers when there are more users of the platform. This is because with a larger user base, Facebook can reach more potential customers for advertisers. Advertisers are willing to pay more to reach a wider audience, so Facebook is able to charge higher prices for its ads.

In 2022, Facebook had over 2.91 billion monthly active users (MAUs). This means that there are over 2.91 billion people who use Facebook at least once a month. This is a massive audience for advertisers, and it is one of the reasons why Facebook is able to generate so much revenue from advertising.

Do you realize there were 7.97 billion people (men, women, boys and girls) in the world in 2022 and Facebook users accounted for 36.5% of all of them. Quite a large percentage of the population when you think about it.

So, if there are more users of Facebook … Facebook ad revenue increases. In my opinion this is why Facebook will hesitate in taking down “Fake Accounts,” and also why they will not “Fact-Check” advertiser claims and dismiss those advertisers that mislead people – while at the same time they will “Fact-Check” users posts if they think those have a chance to mislead some people (or offend some people) that may see it.

What caused me to write this nasty article:

Before getting started let me say that I’ve made a lot of money on Facebook stock and stock options over the years. I will continue to invest in Facebook – perhaps even more so if they “straighten up and fly right” (in the words of my deceased dad). So, just because I am writing this article does not mean I won’t stop using them or investing in Meta Stock and Options. Well, I may stop using them once I post this article publicly on my Facebook page for all the world to see – because they may then decide to shut down my account. It would not cost them anything to do this since users don’t pay for the service. Losing one account will not affect their cash flow from the advertisers at all since I believe they have the capability to establish a “Fake Account” in place of mine.

Here’s why I am writing this article …

Last night I was searching for a Friend on Facebook to send a link to another friend so that the other friend could send a friend request to my friend that I was searching for. I saw why my friend doing the search was having the problem. There were three accounts of my friend – of which two were fake. I sent my friend that was searching the proper link.

Then, I decided to search my own name and this is what I came up with:

Notice the first one is me while the second one having my likeness (my picture) is not me. The 7 mutual friends are also showing on my friends list. So apparently these friends thought I’d sent them another friend request and not realizing they were already friends accepted the friend request from this bogus account.

The next thing I did was to click on the Bogus Account (the second one listed) and this is what I got.

I then clicked on the three dots […] in the lower right-hand corner and this screen was opened up to me.

Next, I clicked on [! Report Profile] thinking that the knuckleheads that run the company, or at least the security department of the company would have common sense to know that it is a “Fake Profile” and go ahead and delete it. As a matter of fact, when I clicked on delete profile the next screen shown allowed me to tell them why …

So, if you saw this and you knew the account was a Fake Account … what would you click on. I clicked on Fake account and got this page:

Assuming Fake Accounts went against Community Standards I clicked submit thinking that everything would be taken care of.

Well, I was wrong … or was I. We will get into Community Standards in just a moment.

Fakebook’s Response:

Just minutes later this response hit my Facebook Notifications Bell:

Yesterday at 8:37 PM

We didn’t remove the profile.

To keep our review process as fair as possible, we use the same set of Community Standards to review all reports.

We’ve taken a look and found that the profile doesn’t go against our Community Standards.

We understand that this might be upsetting so we recommend exploring the options available to control what you see.

If you want us to review something specific within a profile, be sure to report the content (example: photo), not the entire profile.

Once I got this notice I tried again using “Pretending to be someone” and got the same response within just minutes. This tells me that a “human” did not respond to me but rather some “robot with an algorithm” programmed into it. And of course, Facebook/Meta is one of the many companies in America that feels it’s customers (or users) should not have a phone number to call when they are upset. As I’ve said in past articles, I’ve written … “Real customer service in America has gone with the ‘good ole days’.”

With this disappointment I decided to see what options I had.

Facebook only provided two … Delete the message from the Support Inbox or Block Jerry from being able to contact me. Of Course, Jerry (the fake one) would never contact me … just some of my friends.

So, this begs to question why a Facebook user might clone another user’s account and send out friend requests to that user’s friends. Here’s some of the reasons I could come up with in my investigation:

Scams:

• Financial gain: This is the most common motive. The scammer impersonates the original user to build trust with their friends, then manipulates them into sending money or giving up personal information like account credentials or financial details. This could be through fake emergencies, investment scams, or phishing attempts.
• Account takeover: By gaining access to the friend list, the scammer can attempt to hack into the accounts of the original user’s friends. They might use this stolen information for further scams, identity theft, or even selling on the black market.
• Spam or malware distribution: The cloned account can be used to send spam messages or links to malware to the original user’s friends. These could be anything from fake news articles to phishing links that steal personal information.

Harassment:

• Bullying or revenge: The perpetrator might create a fake account to harass or bully the original user and their friends. They could post offensive or misleading content, impersonate the original user to damage their reputation, or simply annoy their friends.
• Controlling behavior: In some cases, the fake account is created by someone who knows the original user personally, such as an ex-partner or jealous friend. They might use it to monitor the original user’s activity, spy on their friends, or interfere with their relationships.

Other motives:

• Identity theft: In rare cases, the perpetrator might try to steal the original user’s identity by using their stolen information to create fake accounts on other platforms or commit other crimes.
• Social engineering: The fake account could be used for social engineering purposes, such as manipulating people into revealing information or taking certain actions. This could be done for political gain, to spread misinformation, or for other malicious purposes.

In doing my research for this article I did find this advice in my Google Research:

It’s important to remember that cloning someone’s account is a form of impersonation and is against Facebook’s terms of service. If you think someone has cloned your account or is impersonating you, you should report them to Facebook immediately and change your password and security settings.

Well so far, I’ve proved that statement to be wrong since Facebook is doing nothing to take this fake account down. Why should the user have to do things like “change their password” every time some “fool” wants to impersonate them. It makes no sense if it’s against Facebook’s terms of service. Facebook should be the one taking care of this.

Even after knowing all of the above, for some reason known only to the “knuckleheads” that programmed their response algorithm, Facebook still insists that this “Fake Account” does not go against their “Community Standards.”

Here are Facebook’s so-called Community Standards right from Facebook itself:

Every day, people use Facebook to share their experiences, connect with friends and family, and build communities. It’s a service for more than 2 billion people to freely express themselves across countries and cultures and in dozens of languages.

I have to really question “freely express themselves” as I personally have had many posts removed that I thought was “free expression.”

Meta recognizes how important it is for Facebook to be a place where people feel empowered to communicate, and we take our role seriously in keeping abuse off the service. That’s why we developed standards for what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook.

These standards are based on feedback from people and the advice of experts in fields like technology, public safety and human rights. To ensure everyone’s voice is valued, we take great care to create standards that include different views and beliefs, especially from people and communities that might otherwise be overlooked or marginalized.

Our commitment to voice

The goal of our Community Standards is to create a place for expression and give people a voice. Meta wants people to be able to talk openly about the issues that matter to them, whether through written comments, photos, music, or other artistic mediums, even if some may disagree or find them objectionable. In some cases, we allow content—which would otherwise go against our standards—if it’s newsworthy and in the public interest. We do this only after weighing the public interest value against the risk of harm, and we look to international human rights standards to make these judgments. In other cases, we may remove content that uses ambiguous or implicit language when additional context allows us to reasonably understand that the content goes against our standards.

Our commitment to expression is paramount, but we recognize the internet creates new and increased opportunities for abuse. For these reasons, when we limit expression, we do it in service of one or more of the following values:

AUTHENTICITY

We want to make sure the content people see on Facebook is authentic. We believe that authenticity creates a better environment for sharing, and that’s why we don’t want people using Facebook to misrepresent who they are or what they’re doing.

Note: I guess in their interpretation of what is authentic and what is not … a fake account must be authentic to the person whose name is on the account even though that person is not the person who created the account. Also, what about the advertisers authenticity?

SAFETY

We’re committed to making Facebook a safe place. We remove content that could contribute to a risk of harm to the physical security of persons. Content that threatens people has the potential to intimidate, exclude or silence others and isn’t allowed on Facebook.

Note: However, as I’ve shown above the reasons a person would clone another person’s account is to harm the individual or an individual this person may know. Is that following their “safety” concept?

PRIVACY

We’re committed to protecting personal privacy and information. Privacy gives people the freedom to be themselves, choose how and when to share on Facebook and connect more easily.

Note: By allowing others to create an account that is supposed to be the account of someone else, how does that really provide privacy?

DIGNITY

We believe that all people are equal in dignity and rights. We expect that people will respect the dignity of others and not harass or degrade others.

Note: The fact that they allow Fake Accounts to be created and held says to me that the knuckleheads that run the company do not really understand the terms “dignity and rights.”

Community Standards

Our Community Standards apply to everyone, all around the world, and to all types of content, including AI-generated content.

Each section of our Community Standards starts with a “Policy Rationale” that sets out the aims of the policy followed by specific policy lines that outline:

Note: I did not include everything on the Community Standards screen but chose to include some of the items below:

They go on to explain content that’s not allowed; and content that requires additional information or context to enforce on, content that is allowed with a warning screen or content that is allowed but can only be viewed by adults aged 18 and older.

VIOLENCE AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR

• Violence and Incitement
• Dangerous Organizations and Individuals
• Coordinating Harm and Promoting Crime
• Restricted Goods and Services
• Fraud and Deception
• Policy Rationale

The bullet points above were actually links that a person could click on to read detail about the meaning. I clicked on Fraud and Deception and this is what I found:

In an effort to prevent fraudulent activity on the platform which can harm people or businesses, we remove content and action on behaviors which intend to defraud users or third parties. Therefore, we remove content that purposefully intends to deceive, willfully misrepresent or otherwise exploit others for money or property. This includes content that seeks to coordinate or promote these activities using our platform. We allow people to raise awareness and educate others as well as condemn these activities, unless this includes content that contains sensitive information, such as personally identifiable information.

Note: even though this is stated precisely … it appears the knuckleheads at Facebook do not feel a Fake Account is Fraud and Deception. Why should they if they can keep the fake accounts and charge their advertisers more money. They don’t care if the people being defrauded or deceived are actually hurt!

SAFETY

• Suicide and Self-Injury
• Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity
• Adult Sexual Exploitation
• Policy Rationale
• Bullying and Harassment
• Human Exploitation
• Privacy Violations
• Policy Rationale

I clicked on the bullet point … Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Nudity and this is what came up:

We recognize the importance of Facebook as a place to discuss and draw attention to sexual violence and exploitation. In an effort to create space for this conversation and promote a safe environment, we allow victims to share their experiences, but remove content that depicts, threatens or promotes sexual violence, sexual assault, or sexual exploitation. We also remove content that displays, advocates for or coordinates sexual acts with non-consenting parties to avoid facilitating non-consensual sexual acts.

To protect victims and survivors, we remove images that depict incidents of sexual violence and intimate images shared without the consent of the person(s) pictured. As noted in the introduction, we also work with external safety experts to discuss and improve our policies and enforcement around online safety issues, and we may remove content when they provide information that content is linked to harmful activity. We have written about the technology we use to protect against intimate images and the research that has informed our work. We’ve also put together a guide to reporting and removing intimate images shared without your consent.

Privacy and the protection of personal information are fundamentally important values for Facebook. We work hard to safeguard your personal identity and information and we do not allow people to post certain types of personal or confidential information about yourself or of others.

We also provide people ways to report imagery that they believe to be in violation of their privacy rights.

Note: I’ve had to report posts from various Motorcycle Groups that show partially clothed women. Next thing I know is that the same nonsense with women bending over showing various parts of their body is showing up on Facebook “Reels” that does not (apparently) provide anyway to get rid of them.

OBJECTIONABLE CONTENT

• Hate Speech
• Violent and Graphic Content
• Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity
• Adult Sexual Solicitation and Sexually Explicit Language

Note: Again, I clicked on the bottom two links and this is what I found.

Policy Rationale

We restrict the display of nudity or sexual activity because some people in our community may be sensitive to this type of content. Additionally, we default to removing sexual imagery to prevent the sharing of non-consensual or underage content. Restrictions on the display of sexual activity also apply to digitally created content unless it is posted for educational, humorous, or satirical purposes.

Our nudity policies have become more nuanced over time. We understand that nudity can be shared for a variety of reasons, including as a form of protest, to raise awareness about a cause, or for educational or medical reasons.

Where such intent is clear, we make allowances for the content. For example, while we restrict some images of female breasts that include the nipple, we allow other images, including those depicting acts of protest, women actively engaged in breast-feeding and photos of post-mastectomy scarring. For images depicting visible genitalia or the anus in the context of birth and after-birth moments or health-related situations we include a warning label so that people are aware that the content may be sensitive. We also allow photographs of paintings, sculptures, and other art that depicts nude figures.

Note: While they may remove it from your Facebook newsfeed (as you personally notify them and request it) they will not be removed from “Reels” on Facebook and a few weeks later some of the same images you had removed will start showing up on your feed page again. If they were able to catch them all you should not have to request that they be removed.

INTEGRITY AND AUTHENTICITY

• Account Integrity and Authentic Identity
• Spam
• Cybersecurity
• Inauthentic Behavior
• Misinformation
• Memorialization
• Intellectual Property

Note: When it comes to misinformation I can’t tell you the number of ads I’ve seen by various doctors about lowering your blood pressure with certain CBD Gummies. One such ad that I personally “fact-checked” since Facebook won’t is depicted below in a post I just placed.

This ad happens to be (according to whomever placed it) from Dr. Ben Carson – and I am certain that it is not … but apparently misleading the people is find with Facebook as long as the advertisers pays the nice fees.

Here’s what I posted as it relates to this ad and others found on Facebook:

Facebook won’t fact check it because they are being paid … but I will:

I’m cautious about the Facebook post regarding Dr. Ben Carson and a “blood pressure cure.” Here’s why:

Medical claims require strong evidence: Dr. Carson is a renowned neurosurgeon, but his area of expertise isn’t specifically in cardiovascular health or treating high blood pressure. Making such bold claims about a “forever cure” for a chronic medical condition like high blood pressure requires rigorous scientific research and peer-reviewed evidence, which, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist for these specific “natural ingredients.”

Misinformation on social media is common: Unfortunately, misleading and false information on social media is widespread. This claim about Dr. Carson and a “blood pressure cure” has all the hallmarks of misinformation, preying on people’s desire for quick and easy solutions to health problems.

Therefore, I recommend the following:

Seek credible sources: For reliable information about high blood pressure treatment, consult websites of reputable medical organizations like the American Heart Association or Mayo Clinic.

Talk to your doctor: If you have concerns about your blood pressure, talk to your doctor about evidence-based treatment options. They can assess your individual situation and recommend a safe and effective plan for managing your blood pressure.

Be skeptical of miracle cures: Claims that seem too good to be true often are. Be wary of any product or program that promises a simple “cure” for a complex medical condition like high blood pressure.

Remember, managing high blood pressure is crucial for long-term health and preventing serious complications. Always prioritize reputable sources and consult your doctor for personalized advice.

CONTENT-RELATED REQUESTS AND DECISIONS

User Requests. We comply with:

• User requests for removal of their own account.
• Requests for removal of a deceased user’s account from a verified immediate family member or executor.
• Requests for removal of an incapacitated user’s account from an authorized representative.

It truly seems amazing to me that after all these “rules” they have in place they can remove my account, a deceased family members account and even an incapacitated member’s account – but not a “Fake Account” of me that was established by some CRIMINAL MINDED PERSON intent on defrauding others that relate to me on Facebook.

In Conclusion:

Facebook or rather “Fakebook” as I call it is now the #1 worst Social Media Platform in the world in my opinion. They can’t even follow their own rules, yet expect their users to follow the rules they lay out.

If you get a post from a friend of yours that is truly a friend you know personally and it was not something that they “shared with you” from some other source … it is likely true. Anything else you may read (advertisements and shared messages from someone else) could be and probably are fake.

If you get a friend request from a person that is already friends with you on Facebook, do not accept it until talking to them to see if they actually sent it. Do not waste your time changing your password every time someone steals your likeness or profile and sets up a “Fake Account” to have your friends accept them again as a friend. It’s too late they’ve already gotten everything they need to “defraud” your friends. Changing your password is not going to stop it.

When it comes to advertisements … NEVER TRUST ANYTHING YOU MAY READ OR SEE. Remember Fakebook will not fact-check the advertisers that are keeping them in business while misleading you, the user. Fakebook and Mark Zuckerberg really does not care if you are hurt as long as the “Almighty Dollar” keeps flowing their way.

I am not suggesting that you discontinue using Fakebook … it’s still a great way to stay in touch with friends and to share information. Just be careful and continue to be yourselves whether Fakebook likes it or not … and remember Fakebook will not provide you any support or even a phone number to call and beg for support unless you are one of the advertisers that is paying them for the privilege to provide “misinformation to the masses.”

Have a great day and I hope this helps some of you,

Jerry Nix | Freewavemaker, LLC