Facebook details spam, fake user efforts

Facebook Inc. on Tuesday published a blog post with its "enforcement numbers" and detailed its actions to remove content that violated its policies. The company said that it took down 837 million pieces of spam in the first quarter, "nearly 100%" of which it flagged before it was reported by users. Facebook also said that it disabled roughly 583 million fake accounts during the quarter, "most of which were disabled within minutes of registration." The company estimates that 3% to 4% of active accounts on Facebook during the quarter were still fake. Facebook said it took down 21 million pieces of adult nudity and sexual activity and either took down or warned users about 3.5 million pieces of violent content. As for hate speech, the company's blog post said that Facebook's "technology still doesn't work that well and so it needs to be checked by our review teams." Of the 2.5 million pieces of hate speech removed during the quarter, only 38% was flagged by Facebook's internal technology. This was Facebook's first time publicly releasing enforcement metrics, and the disclosure comes in the wake of the company's Cambridge Analytica scandal. Facebook shares are down 1.4% in Tuesday morning trading but up 22% in the past 12 months. The S&P 500 has gained 13% in that time.