Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has intensified its efforts to fight fake engagement and content impersonation by deleting over 10 million fake profiles and taking action against about 500,000 spam accounts in the first half of 2025.

In a blog post on Monday, Meta explained that this is part of a broader campaign to curb inauthentic behaviour, discourage recycled content, and prioritise originality across its platforms.

“We’re making progress. In the first half of 2025, we took action on around 500,000 accounts engaged in spammy behaviour or fake engagement. We also removed about 10 million profiles impersonating large content producers,” the company said.

Meta stated that repeated sharing of unoriginal content including videos, images, or textharms the platform’s integrity.

It explained further that such actions reduces visibility for authentic voices and makes it harder for new creators to gain traction.

To support genuine creators, Meta is introducing new tools that automatically trace reposted content back to its original source.

This update is aimed at ensuring that original creators get credit and visibility.

“Pages and profiles that post mostly original contents tend to enjoy wider distribution across Facebook. Simply stitching clips together or adding a watermark will no longer count as meaningful editing. Content that provides real value and tells an authentic story is likely to perform better,” Meta stated.

The platform also warned that uploading content with watermarks from other platforms may lead to reduced distribution or loss of monetisation privileges.

As part of the update, Meta has added post-level insights to the Professional Dashboard.

This will allow creators to track how individual posts are performing and view any potential restrictions affecting their content or earnings on the Support Home screen.

In a related development, YouTube has updated its monetisation guidelines, stating that content considered mass-produced or excessively repetitive will no longer qualify for ad revenue.

The announcement initially caused confusion, with some creators thinking it was a ban on AI-generated content.

However, YouTube later clarified its position, saying, “We welcome creators using AI tools to enhance their storytelling, and channels that use AI in their content remain eligible to monetise.”

Both Meta and YouTube say the new policies are designed to raise the quality of content on their platforms and protect original creators in an increasingly competitive digital space. (Nigerian Tribune)