Social networking website Facebook on Sunday said it had over 100 million “duplicate” registered accounts on its user base, as per its estimations. Besides the nearly 5 to 15 million “undesirable” accounts registered with it worldwide, the percentage of such false accounts, including “user-misclassified” ones, may be higher in developing markets such as India, the company said.
At the same time, the company admitted that its estimated figures “may not” accurately represent the actual number of such accounts and it was continually seeking to improve its enumeration methodology.
“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 [those that users maintain in addition to their principal account] may have represented between approximately 4.3 per cent and 7.9 per cent of our worldwide MAUs [Monthly Active User] in 2013,” Facebook said in the SEC filing.
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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 per cent 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 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.
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“In 2013, for example, we estimate user-misclassified accounts may have represented between approximately 0.8 per cent and 2.1 per cent of our worldwide MAUs and undesirable accounts may have represented between approximately 0.4 per cent and 1.2 per cent of our worldwide MAUs,” it further said.