With Likes still being the mainstay metric for brands to measure their success on Facebook, there has been a rise in companies bulk buying them to boost their profile, which is a practice that violates Facebook’s terms.
The social network has enhanced its security systems to stamp out the generation of Likes, which could have been gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users or purchased in bulk.
The fake Likes will be detected and removed by an automated system, which Facebook claims will lead to on average 1% of Likes on any given page being removed.
In a blog post on Friday (31 August), Facebook said the move would benefit both brands and users, allowing users to "authentically" subscribe to Pages they want to while brands will get a more accurate measurement of the number of fans they have and their demographics.
"This improvement will allow Pages to produce ever more relevant and interesting content, and brands will see an increase in the true engagement around their content.
"Facebook was built on the principle of real identity and we want this same authenticity to extend to Pages. We undoubtedly expect that this will be a positive change for anyone using Facebook, and we look forward to helping even more people share and connect with the friends and brands they care about," it said.
Facebook is under ever-increasing pressure to prove the value of the Like to brands, who are looking for more proof of their return on investment on the social network.
In the UK, Tesco and Morrisons are brands which have recently fallen foul of spammers on the social network.
Morrisons warned its Facebook users after they were being encouraged to share a link on Facebook before being automatically redirected to claim a supposed £250 voucher.
features Morrisons branding and advertising for its back-to-school range, in an attempt to dupe Facebook users.
As part of its effort to get more return for advertisers, Facebook announced last week that it is to start allowing brands to use personal information from their existing datasets, including email addresses and phone numbers, to reach users on the site for the first time.
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