Many fall victim to Facebook blocking fake accounts

Social media giant Facebook started blocking fake accounts from Friday in Bangladesh to help stop criminal activities. The Facebook authorities intensified the campaign on Saturday without a prior notification to the account holders. However, many genuine Facebook accounts were also either blocked or disabled. Last week, State Minister for Posts and Telecommunication Tarana Halim had said Facebook authorities would start doing so in the country. On March 30, Tarana Halim held a meeting with Facebook officials in Singapore where the latter assured her of blocking fake accounts in Bangladesh. Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) President Mustafa Jabber in his Facebook status congratulated the move. Razib Ahmed, president of e-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), too hailed the initiative. “We should not be disappointed with a reduction in Facebook likes since it is not good for everyone,” Razib told the Dhaka Tribune. The Facebook crackdown on so called fake accounts also garnered criticism as many alleged that their real accounts have been blocked. Farah Binta Alam, one such victim, told this reporter that her account got shut down despite being a genuine one. “I received an email at 12 noon on Friday about an attempted hack into my Facebook account. After that, I changed my password. But, the next day I discovered my account deactivated. I am yet to recover my account despite following the due process,” she added. In her blog post, Shabnam Sheikh, programme manager, technical team (protect and care) of Facebook, said the social networking site took the initiative to block fake accounts in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and a few other countries as a lot of fake likes and comments are coming from these countries. Facebook authorities also blocked 30,000 fake accounts in France ahead of its presidential polls set to be held on April 23.