Facebook suspends 9 lakh fake accounts in BD

International Desk: At least nine lakh fake accounts from Bangladesh was suspended by social media networking platform Facebook in the last three days. Media is being told that Facebook took such a measure after the Bangladesh government requested for it.

A source from the Bangladesh government said that at least three crore Facebook users are active in the country, and that the government found that at least three per cent of these accounts are fake.

The government fears those behind the fake Facebook accounts are associated with militants and involve in provocative activities against the government. Complaints were filed by the government against the fake Facebook accounts and asked the social media giant to act up on it.

Facebook published a notification saying they are shutting down fake accounts due to security concerns and claimed that Bangladesh tops the list of countries that have maximum number of fake accounts.

Seeing a rise in the number of genuine accounts being shut down as part of this scrutiny, Facebook said people can get their accounts up and running after a verification process. Bangladesh’s State Minister for Post and Telecommunication Tarana Halim said that the fake accounts are used to provoke people on the basis of their religion and that rumours are rife about people behind such accounts being involved in militant activities.

Stating that Prime minister Sheikh Hasina, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and many other politicians are being demeaned through such fake Facebook accounts, Tarana said it is when this came to notice that the government organised a meeting with the Facebook authority and requested a crackdown of fake accounts.

Source: India Today
 

risingbd/Dhaka/April 18, 2017/A K Azad