Facebook Fraud

Evidence Facebook's revenue is based on fake likes.
My first vid on the problem with Facebook: bit.ly/1dXudqY
I know first-hand that Facebook's advertising model is deeply flawed. When I paid to promote my page I gained 80,000 followers in developing countries who didn't care about Veritasium (but I wasn't aware of this at the time). They drove my reach and engagement numbers down, basically rendering the page useless. I am not the only one who has experienced this. Rory Cellan-Jones had the same luck with Virtual Bagel: www.bbc.co.uk/n...
The US Department of State spent $630,000 to acquire 2 million page likes and then realized only 2% were engaged. wapo.st/1glcyZo
I thought I would demonstrate that the same thing is still happening now by creating Virtual Cat ( / myvirtualcat . I was surprised to discover something worse - false likes are coming from everywhere, including Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia. So even those carefully targeting their campaigns are likely being duped into spending real money on fake followers. Then when they try to reach their followers they have to pay again.
And it's possible to be a victim of fake likes without even advertising. Pages that end up on Facebook's "International Suggested Pages" are also easy targets for click-farms seeking to diversify their likes. tnw.co/NsflrC
Thanks to Henry, Grey, and Nessy for feedback on earlier drafts of this video.

[@veritasium]

PLEASE NOTE: I will now return to science videos. I posted this video here because when I observe a blatant disregard for the truth I have to do something. I hope to prevent people from having the same experience I did.

[@pewnit]

***** lol, i do not see the id part on fb

[@NoobTube4148]

I have a suspicion that those countries you mentioned are very likely to have machines that are part of botnets - due to illegal copies of windows and not using proper anti-virus software.

[@gnsdfkjgnsfkjgsfioh]

Veritasium i genuinely like this video and Veritasium :P

[@poonamvhemlani]

Veritasium President Barack Obama kzbin.info/www/bejne/jpeWnZ2tqtyknZo

[@Vathorst2]

***** Cool, was mine in there? I dont use facebook.

[@AsapSCIENCE]

Really fantastic video, Derek! It's frustrating to know how little FB cares about its users.

[@Saffreuge]

three years in, and G+ is full of crickets

[@deebmonkey23]

Yeah I was wrong.

[@GbotexLatex]

Stephen Spinney are you still there?

[@denitajohnson8245]

Learn something new about Facebook everyday!

[@AdrieKooijman]

It's shocking how little users care.

[@AlexAlexanderLIVE]

So nice to finally hear someone talking about this, Im in the same boat spent 100$ of dollars on ads to build up my page but the reach and engagement is now stone dead...

[@AlexAlexanderLIVE]

Hahaha well i actually have a V-neck t shirt under there but its a cropped shot...

[@dropj3]

Alex Alexander like your reaction :).. always nice to see when someone has a sense of humor

[@mycelium9629]

70th like!

[@nazzbuzztutorials9256]

TODAY IS 2018.. AND I ONLY RECEIVE BOT LIKES

[@cymond]

@@nazzbuzztutorials9256 I AM NOT A BOT ::beep boop::

[@sabeenshahid2024]

This definitely aged well.

[@aracoixo3288]

🍷

[@profile1157]

@@aracoixo3288 like wine

[@oliveiraoliveira6035]

brasil aqui. definitivamente o veritasium é o melhor canal de ciencia desde dos primordios do youtube. saudaçoes aos fans, ao derek e a todos que sobreviveram ate aqui em 2021. longa vida o canal! FORA BOLSONARO!

[@profile1157]

@@oliveiraoliveira6035 blah blah blah

[@lonesome3958]

Even better now

[@DeyvsonMoutinhoCaliman]

Mind blowing. When someone says something is a "fraud" I don't expect much, but in this case it was a legit demonstration.

[@charlesleight5741]

Denison Moutinho darla

[@TheRockerX]

No one becames a billionaire without massive and systemic fraud

[@raihanulIslamrana]

I am from Dhaka, Bangladesh . But i am a real fan of Veritasium

[@oitagged]

same here :v however, from chittagong :p although i never knew there was a facebook page o.O :D

[@xXx0dNgRs0xXx]

u have internet there ? lol

[@xXx0dNgRs0xXx]

Raihan Rana based on reciprocity

[@crazysikhguy2369]

I'm Indian and I am legitimately interested in the page

[@glenn2687]

i'm from the philippines but i am genuinely interested in science content.

[@YusuphWickama]

It's 2019 and facebook still does this. I just tested this this week

[@jazzperbeats]

I wonder if they also do it for other ads.

[@MatheusOCosta98]

2020 now and it's still the same

[@2028end]

yup, I'm beginning to see Facebook advertising is just one big scam!

[@xKyriakoZ]

2020

[@bubbuddy986]

Yusuph Wickama hi

[@mihirkagalkar8349]

well looks like mr zuckey never fails to disappoint me every time

[@magics902]

The saddest thing is this is from 2014. And yet this is exactly how it works in 2021 still.

[@williamhuang8309]

Mr Suckey

[@ThomasJr]

Who, Dorkberg?

[@ThomasJr]

Mark Zuccsucks

[@pyotrtchaikovsky9097]

🤣🤣🤣

[@abdulmuktadir4447]

here's a real like from Dhaka, Bangladesh.

[@AdamRiz]

✋

[@rakibshah]

চট্টগ্রাম থেকে ভাই 😴✋

[@fumifoficial8338]

244 likes and only 3 comments..., suspecious...

[@rubaiyatmehedi9337]

@@fumifoficial8338 here, another one.

[@huseyinkoroglu7039]

@@fumifoficial8338 ara

[@madhuvottery7478]

The dislikes are from Facebook. I'm a real fan of Veritasium from India, by the way.

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

कैसे हो भाई

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

या बहन

[@interlucid]

but Facebook doesn't believe in dislikes!

[@unrealpigzgaming8014]

@@interlucid what about dis-i-likes?

[@ronnierouse1146]

Facebook should be destroyed. Anything that's good about it a clone-site would accomplish better, without the bottomless greed.

[@purpleperplexer]

"US State Department paid $630,000 to acquire 2M fans." The bureaucracy is at it again.

[@andrewrichmond85]

I might genuinely like the State Department if they could get my passport to me in a timely manner! I hate to hear they wasted that much money.

[@janosk8392]

Can you verify that statement?

[@jpmorgan187]

Disgusting use of tax dollars. Tip of the iceberg though.

[@vaisnow]

Tax money in action, people

[@ixlnxs]

The world's biggest running joke is how the USA always accuses all the other developed countries of being "socialist" and "inefficient" while wildly outspending the rest of the globe, but with very little to show for it other than the worst public health care, the worst public transport, and the worst public education of all developed countries.

[@samudrajs5409]

It's 2021. Facebook hasn't still fixed it. I run a FaceBook based science group and a page. Frustated for the same reason. Huge follower base, little to no engagement.

[@LevelofClarity]

I’m with you. Same problem. The only way to generate any significant amount of engagement is by paying large sums of money. It’s messed up.

[@danarzechula3769]

Thank the government. Why do you think zuckie went to the white house?0

[@LevelofClarity]

@Daniel Duran You could definitely create a new account, start from scratch, and only advertise to a very specific demo, which would likely alleviate the majority of the issue. The problem for a business like ours is that we've had this page for the last 12 years and starting a new page would be pretty rough. However, if you had another brand or something you probably could go this route.

[@juliecostello42]

I've been pointing this out for about 6 years now, good to see an insider who is willing to display the analytical data behind the promotional frauds and data collection being resold to companies to generate revenue and ruin lives in the name of capitalism or consumerism or both.

[@SimBir08]

@Daniel Duran You could make your own website, most ISP's provide webspace. Even the most basic of websites will give you what facebook offers. Just add a link to your facebook page and once you have enough interest in your site you can drop facebook altogether.

[@nightvisiongoggles]

You know what draws real Facebook engagements? 1: Directed anger towards a common enemy or becoming the enemy 2: Echo chambers for fans of popular things and people with an interspersion of controversy so they react hastily

[@warpspeed8305]

So posting this video on facebook

[@alice_in_wonderland42]

Controversy generates clicks, ask Quora they know it better.

[@shifa-8423]

ㅤ

[@cinegraphics]

So, posts about Lewis Hamilton :)

[@chertfoot1500]

@@alice_in_wonderland42 Quora kicked me off for having a fake name. Soon after, they started recruiting me to be a Big Quora Dude or whatever they call it, saying I could be making money with them.

[@RobertJones]

I've been telling my clients for YEARS not to pay any attention to the number of "likes" on their pages but to focus instead on genuine engagement as the metric for success. Instead I've had lots of clients become disenchanted with the slow process and instead pay for the types of ads Derek talks about in this video, only to see their engagement go down afterwards and the ROI looks terrible and then they fire me as their consultant. I'm glad Derek went through and really laid out the better argument so I can point people to this video each time a client of mine wants to "speed things up." Social media is a long-haul game, when you try to get around the long trek you lose.

[@RobertJones]

Tagging some folks I think should watch this: HaldeCraft ***** ***** Nikki Baulisch

[@MichaelADiMuccio]

The future of social media and business is with a start up called tictalking. Here corporations are able to leverage social media, directing users back to their own websites and more importantly collect the analytics to provide better content.

[@HouseholdHacker]

Excellent video! Ask anyone who has ever tried to garner more attention on Facebook, this video hits the nail on the head.

[@EugeneMillerErm]

Loved it

[@CroatianMinecrafter]

I would say that generally "advertising" a social page does not make much sence since it is designed to be in touch eather to people close to you, or people who share same interest. Just a "Like" is worthless, it doesen't even mean that somebody likes your content anymore.

[@MorteJachwe]

I am austrian and right now I am very proud of my folks :D

[@nostalji93]

As someone who sees nationality very critically I have to admit and agree with a villain: "Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe, but this does put a smile on my face."

[@goldemordx3599]

Fellow Austrian here... I'm very late to the party but still... yey 👍🏽 go us 😅🇦🇹

[@000blackmage000]

Send kangroos bro.

[@MorteJachwe]

@@000blackmage000 Schwarzenegger, not crocodile dundee ;)

[@niklashitzinger2285]

wir han einfach schlauer

[@geetarwanabe]

I deleted my Facebook account recently. It's just full of spam on your wall nowadays and I can't be bothered with it any more. Note also facebook only paying £4300odd in tax last year which is actually less than I pay in tax and yet my salary isn't anywhere near as high as Facebooks revenue. The whole company is Fraudulent.

[@Murph1989sean]

+geetarwanabe Not trying to start anything but your comment brings up an interesting question: How much in taxes should a US based internet company pay the UK? Or any other country for that matter? Likewise, how much money should a UK website pay the US Gov in taxes for its use.

[@mylegalname9852]

+Sean Murphy I think he means the total value, not in that currency to the country where that currency is established (Facebook pays less than 4300 pounds worth, in dollars, to the US government.)

[@geetarwanabe]

Ian Jackson Not quite, Ian. Facebook paid approx £4300 (British pounds) to the UK government last year. Sean Murphy I'd say if you have a base of operations within any border and/or operate a business where financial exchanges occur and you make money from said country then you should pay the commercial tax set by that country, at least on the monies accrued within said country. Facebook had revenues within the UK of over £100 million but paid only £4200 in UK tax because they technically operated at a loss. They operated at a loss because they offered a £28million bonus scheme for their 300odd staff inside the UK by giving them shares. The capital of the company was still the same but on the books they were operating at a loss. Or, in other words, they were fraudulent in their business acumen to trick their way into paying less corporate tax and maximising the companies profits.

[@mylegalname9852]

geetarwanabe I don't know much about taxes; I thought that Facebook paid taxes only to the country it is based in (US). Thanks for explaining that money was made in the UK and that they only paid 4300 pounds to the UK, not the US (as I assumed).

[@dieselscience]

+geetarwanabe I'm not trying to one-up you but I deleted my FB almost three years ago. I began to realize if I am not paying to advertise a product or being paid for product advertisements I *am* the advertised product and I am not being compensated. I don't do pro bono work for billion dollar multinational corporations like FB.

[@JulienNeel]

Thank you for making this video. I've enjoyed all your previous science-related content, but this is really excellent. I fell for paid so-called "boosted" Facebook posts, since I was barely reaching 10% to 15% of my fans (I noticed the same problem with KZbin too...), and the results were barely noticeable. I hope this video goes viral and the right people see this. Thanks!

[@TampaTec]

fakebook is a wart on the internet's ass that we can't get rid of.

[@jater10]

No business is secure in the market forever. See what's going on with Sears these days. Facebook is big, so was MySpace before it.

[@thomaswanado8744]

Facebook will eventually go down the toilet where it belongs.

[@shwetaanand9539]

Hi, Love and greetings from India. I watch your KZbin posts and eagerly wait for the next. Seriously I go through your uploads repeatedly if the topic is difficult. I am 48 by now and your posts reminds me of my school days. I thank you for your excellent and explanatory videos.

[@umenjaplooona]

Im from austria and i feel honoured, i love your videos;)

[@veritasium]

I am the one who is honoured! Thanks for your support!

[@RiaRadioFMHD773]

Veritasium And I thought their "privacy policy" was shadey. The root of much evil is not money BUT the adoration of it. This abnormal affection for profit has the potential to cause some corporations to do what many will think of as immoral and unethical. Money can also be a voice for consumers. If we actively restrict our purchases to companies with merit, those without it will receive the message LOUD and clear.

[@NineSun001]

Veritasium Yes, got also mentioned (Germany) :) Which countries are the two dots between Germany and Austria? But the Austria dot is nice. So If a facebook site ever gets likes from Austria they've made it :)

[@KVKBaraniPrasath]

manas tiwari I know that feeling my fellow Indian :P

[@FirebladeXXL]

Nico Sänger not necessarily. who sais austrians like every stuff the same. maybe they just like science and truth :D

[@92billly]

So i come to realize face book was a complete waste of my time. It adds no valve at all. I thought I deleted my account ages ago but turned out it was only disabled. If you really want to delete the account it's hidden in some random section on the web site (I had to, Google how to permanently delete it). Face book is a unhealthy addiction and only cares how it can make money out of its users

[@sujanaryal833]

Apparently even that won’t delete it permanently and can still be reactivated

[@ankurghosh2387]

Or apparently your data isn't deleted at all. Might have been sold...

[@bulldozer8950]

Can you link to how to delete it? I wasn’t able to find any way to delete it

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

@@bulldozer8950 there is no Way to delete facebook :(

[@theatom7264]

It used to be a good way of keeping in touch with friends & family & a way to get news from various interests but now its mostly just a cesspit of ads & spambots. Been with Facebook for over 10 years but now I’m close to closing my account & quitting it all together. I’m only really using it to back up & save mobile game data on some games I play on my phone.

[@jimmyintn980]

Sure wish I would have found this before spending $100's. I'm giving away a $200 gift certificate to my webstore and paid to boost the ad. I've gotten thousands of views and hundreds of likes and NONE of them have signed up to the giveaway. I wish someone would start a class-action suit against Facebook. How is this not fraud???? It's been 4 years since this video was made and it's STILL happening.

[@TG-fh7mc]

Someone start it? You are someone yourself, aren't you?

[@hubbcap18]

@@Mathijs303 we've reached 2020 with no end in....sight

[@Maussiegamer]

can I still join giveaway?

[@stevenwilliams1915]

Kudos to you Derek! You always live up to your channel's name. Hats off for standing up to Goliath!

[@nonelost1]

4:11 Next up, engagement farms!

[@Suldok]

Marshall Curtis lol

[@ScienceMarc]

That would technically solve the problem

[@KungFuChess]

+Marshall Curtis those already exist in Las Vegas

[@Snyper20]

+AndreT Cool, I'll get to work as soon as I deposit your check for the first 40 hours ;) Just send it to me now and I'll get back to you within a few business days.

[@AkshayShukla.]

They exist currently. On KZbin and Instagram. I have seen bulks of copy paste comments on posts, who say "I love this man, he is so hardworking" on every video.

[@wimbet]

Pretty much every social network has a problem with fake engagements, but this video shows how bad it can be on Facebook.

[@RuslanGolenkovPhotography]

And i wondered why i have so many likes from Middle East and i never targeted my adverts to that region.

[@itsmoneytoday]

This is one of the best videos on KZbin! In 2012 I hired an assistant for my business to run my social media program. Everything he is saying in the video is 100% true. Finding out first hand all likes are not created equally was eye opening! I had more likes, but less engagement. Any bought like or followers is absolutely WORTHLESS! Great information!

[@meredithkrause5836]

Oh I completely agree. Those who say otherwise are working for Facebook. I have another business where I tried FB ads and these were my results without even knowing this video existed, lol. Luckily I had an FB coupon so I did not have to spend my own money. I even tried the Power Editor and the Facebook Audience Makr and everything. Without the PE and the AM I generated 65 likes! But all from India. With the PE and AM, I generated 1 like. Pretty useless if you ask me. If anyone wants to try the Audience Makr for their useless FB ads, let me know, I have 2 more licenses available. I really wish it all had worked, but, it didn't :(

[@nahkampfsocke315]

I am Austrian! Proud to see that your page gets so much attention in our country🙏🏼

[@shieldgenerator7]

This makes me even happier that I'm not on Facebook

[@petriheil8543]

I mistrusted facebook from their very beginnings (even though it originally had a community oriented aura)but especially since they went on the stockmarket. Individuals are not users, they are simply apromising market segment with a value. Facebook has no community spirit, no matter how grand Mr. Zuckerbergs pretentions or donations. I am glad I don`t use any of FB or WhatsApp services, I am glad I have only few friends (on whom I can count).

[@JonatasAdoM]

Whatsapp is a mean of communication like other programs, PEOPLE turn it into a social network thing. About Facebook after Google's Orkut I became aware of the reality and just refused to use facebook. Guess I was right.

[@silentios7336]

My Mother always told me that you can not trust a jew.

[@fahadsaleem3742]

What do you use then?

[@shieldgenerator7]

Fahad Saleem email

[@GoRideLP]

facebook should call it Li(k)es

[@manuelromeiro7529]

Deixe book.com

[@CUAUHTEMOCVEGATORRES]

lol

[@shahirmabsur]

14 y/o girl: *crying noises*

[@crescendus5747]

K

[@Shadoufang]

Heeeheee :'D It's right in there, you just have to look closer :'D niiice

[@SuperSaf]

Always been wary of Facebook advertising, this video confirmed my suspicions!

[@dixit6605]

Here is a genuine subscriber from *INDIA* 🙌 . Facebook is widely used here by mostly illiterate people, Instagram is also trending from last 2 years. I deleted my Instragram account last year to focus more on good content provided by you and others like you.

[@8siandude72]

I actually went to Virtual Cat to like the page lol.

[@flubs2298]

You're ruining the experiment!

[@aexon9707]

+Pie Empire the experiment is kinda over.

[@flubs2298]

Aexon Not really, he can go back to it for more data at any time.

[@aexon9707]

Pie Empire by publishing the video he knows people will go like it.

[@manictiger]

11,630 likes We could say... The cat is out of the bag.

[@ishrakmohammad2949]

lol I'm your real fan from Dhaka, Bangladesh

[@abdelkarim8381]

Well this is awkward! lmao

[@r1zwxn]

Same 🤣

[@sunny-hn9ug]

same bro...

[@humanbeing499]

PLEASE REPORT MISSWILDFIRE page ON FACEBOOK!!! HELPPPP I knew the facebook page and their website seemed a bit fishy but all my friends decided to order anyway and the total amount spent by them was probably over 1k or 2k dollars. I just feel so bad for them because when they initially contacted the website and the facebook page no one replied but the payments looked very safe and verified so they trusted it and ordered anyway and now they haven't received their products for over a month, no one has contacted them, no one has replied to any of their emails or messages yet, no tracking number, no confirmation, NOTHING. Also I've noticed they've been constantly deleting any comments on their facebook page that looks bad for them. If they have time to delete bad facebook comments then why not have the time to reply to at least one of us!!

[@karlliebknecht4889]

Not long ago we've promoted one of our publications in Spanish and ended up with a few hundred page likes from well known Spanish speaking countries such as Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Conakry and Togo. The comments posted by our new fans were unsurprisingly generic, off-topic and written in a Spanish dialect unknown to us, with close resemblances to West African broken English.

[@sunshsophprd.0565]

kudos for you...excellent comment ...😆😆😆😆😆😆

[@LIONGOD]

this still holds up 8 years later, and not just for Facebook

[@bryanallo]

You just confirmed my ongoing suspicion! I have yet to experience any meaningful engagement as a result of Facebook promotion and Facebook in general. It is in my opinion the greatest scam ever perpetrated on man. Instagram included. Thank you for the detailed scientific analysis and research. Great job!

[@TheAdriyaman]

I work at a click farm.

[@MertyShangoOfficial]

dope

[@aikslf]

I plant mouse seeds.

[@OmbaaMan]

+ɐᴉdoʇoʞsooʞ can I buy a steel series seed?

[@aikslf]

Dirpy Turtle No. When the mice grow, they auto-click on whatever you tell them to.

[@RGlynix]

best farm

[@ZenDragonYoutubeChannel]

This is pretty shocking if true, as someone with little cash, who's already invested a bit in FB ads and wanted to invest more, this has definitely given me something to think about. Thank you for the research and sharing your theory, hereby subscribed to your channel Veritasium.

[@singwisevocals]

I had this EXACT same experience when I paid for targeted ad campaigns on Facebook early on. Most of the 'likes' were from questionable/fake accounts. Not only did it cost me money, but it also negatively impacted my analytics (e.g., engagement). Because of that, I stopped advertising on Facebook and just let the page grow organically, instead.

[@humanbeing499]

PLEASE REPORT MISSWILDFIRE page ON FACEBOOK!!! HELPPPP I knew the facebook page and their website seemed a bit fishy but all my friends decided to order anyway and the total amount spent by them was probably over 1k or 2k dollars. I just feel so bad for them because when they initially contacted the website and the facebook page no one replied but the payments looked very safe and verified so they trusted it and ordered anyway and now they haven't received their products for over a month, no one has contacted them, no one has replied to any of their emails or messages yet, no tracking number, no confirmation, NOTHING. Also I've noticed they've been constantly deleting any comments on their facebook page that looks bad for them. If they have time to delete bad facebook comments then why not have the time to reply to at least one of us!!

[@Alt3Tab]

meanwhile, its 2020 and the ***show continues. Found this channel while on a knowledge rampage and this really nice. keep up the good work.

[@II_superluminal_II]

This is exactly what amazon is facing with Prime shipping, worked at first and now its mostly up to shady third party last mile shipping companies that are taking hold of the mailing marking in the locality of USPS.

[@eveRide]

Awesome video. Facebook won't stop, though, because it's the "Like industrial complex", which is why they're motivated to continue freebooting, as well.

[@jamesjones7670]

ok

[@jamesjones7670]

+James Jones ol

[@mowu8459]

WHY IS THERE A -5 ON THE ENGAGEMENT CHART THEY ENGAGE SO LITTLE THEY ANTIENGAGE

[@Djorgal]

What? Of course they did. They made a lot of changes in order to make sure it isn't cross compatible with any free alternative. Isn't that improvement?

[@martinnimcevic8197]

excel is free if you have a VPN

[@Sacchidanand]

Martin Nimcevic, what? VPN? 😅

[@borekworek69]

? Virtual Private Network??

[@itsokbyharsaaj8020]

lol they engagen't

[@SafirAksel]

Hey, I'm from Indonesia and I genuinely love this channel.

[@alltime10s]

Great video Derek! :D

[@mikeyshh5376]

Wooow, very very interesting!! ;)

[@BongSalvador]

Fraudbook.

[@Tomnedreb]

Facebook sucks big time, end of discussion!

[@cgg3169]

Tomnedreb I agree why do gets addicted to it!!??

[@TheAnantaSesa]

Stop undermining OP's statement. the discussion is over. And you have the gaul to ask questions.

[@TheAnantaSesa]

Lol

[@igornowicki29]

heroin too, but you won't end addiction just by saying that

[@arbozaliyan]

#Tomnedreb That depends on how you use facebook; I used to use to organize students back in college and I used to use it to connect all my kin. Orginizing students was a great success, I banned everyone who trolled around but when it came to the my kin, well you can't stop your grandma from trolling or posting. It was a disaster. Everyday there was like thousands of posts. There were like 200 people in that page but it was too caotic. I think you need to be more selective when forming any kind of social structure on any social portal.

[@WonderWhy]

Now time to share this video on Facebook...

[@lonsdaleitepolitics9597]

WonderWhy! How has no one responded to you in 4 years?

[@pureog1479]

@@lonsdaleitepolitics9597 7*

[@Mark-ef7pi]

While this video is dated, it's absolutely priceless for small business owners.

[@kolvis6626]

I don't use Facebook, I don't like Facebook, and I will never use Facebook.

[@meta04]

it's like they have hostility to privacy as their main core value. "if you don't agree to the new Privacy Policy, you can't continue to use Facebook" despite GDPR explicitly saying no to that

[@MikhaelAhava]

Lucky you.

[@CUAUHTEMOCVEGATORRES]

you have an active account on facebook, actually more than 2

[@nob2243]

@HIGHWAY TO HEAVEN Facebook itself is spying on us more actively, and collects more data, than FBI ever could. That's why they know they just can't compete :D

[@makrumakru5300]

@@x_x5009 ban face buk mesenger yuser dataa server save after leek not gud unstal after instal alll data mobail no dilate

[@HybridLibrarian]

Thanks for sharing this Derek, that was very interesting. I've always been very suspicious of these promotion systems, this video has definitely convinced me never to use such tricks. Basically only allows you to buy a cardboard decor of playmobil figures for your page, pointless.

[@LabGecko]

Worse than pointless - it will make the algorithm _not_ recommend you to people who would actually engage.

[@mackyronimd]

here's a genuine like from the Philippines 😁 your content is great!

[@somethingcolorglow402]

Of course

[@deus6563]

#pRouDPeeNoIsE

[@Vens8]

How much were you paid for this?

[@kern9422]

@@Vens8 i liked this video too, i was paid approximately 5 phillippine centavo

[@charlesleight5741]

Maki darla on line

[@wilso26]

Man I really love your videos, they are an inspiration for me. Love the part "And that's not my just opinion" It says it in the bio "That I created" too funny

[@codehindiofficial]

FB ads are still same in 2018. I wasted money on Facebook Ads and I made a video on that today exposing Facebook ads

[@kijijiallin]

Get rekt loser. Selling soap to Facebook moms at a 400% mark up

[@jackyzhu9761]

You know English.

[@المالم-ن8ط]

Don't listen to racists man

[@aienbalosaienbalos4186]

@@المالم-ن8ط especially racists that trick soap users

[@ViratKohli-jj3wj]

@@jackyzhu9761 Shut Up Clown!

[@voscra]

Hey, I live in Dhaka, and I legitmately like your page. D:

[@voscra]

Dhaka just has a lot of people, 111 MILLION PEOPLE, so obviously most of those likes could be legit!! but clickfarms are a industry here, but there are REAL People who like pages, like me.

[@voscra]

I am not a bot

[@Ruminations09]

Hashtag #imdifferent

[@shoalinscrap]

I legitimately liked your comment

[@Christian-wk9vx]

Hashtag #Hashtag

[@v.567]

Why am I watching this? I don't even use facebook

[@macaroon_nuggets8008]

Good

[@loc878]

Same here

[@ordenax]

Good to know. To tell ( save) your friends.

[@wb6wsn]

You don't use FB; FB uses you.

[@AK06ApeX]

Deactivated fB 7 years ago. Best decision ever made!

[@farhanshariftasin9305]

Watchin it from Dhaka,Bangladesh & Nothing has changed till now👽

[@FlygisTheFlygis]

It's not people just sitting and clicking things all day. It's bots that log into accounts, navigate the website, execute an action, log out and repeat.

[@lukesamconnorvideos]

what if we just all stopped using facebook because it's terrible

[@ZER0--]

+Honest Tech Reviews Then it would fail.

[@lukesamconnorvideos]

Paul L that's the point

[@karlandersson4350]

+Honest Tech Reviews But where would i go to spy on my friends hot friends with big boobs then?

[@NikolayVityazev]

+Honest Tech Reviews I stopped to use facebook seven years ago. But haven't deleted account, just in case.

[@amisfitpuivk]

done. But there's always more kids going to college and signing up, so it probably won't work

[@danielhale1]

Brilliant investigation. Hopefully one day we'll have a way to solve it... Makes me wonder if Google+ suffers the same issue? And KZbin? But their revenue sources work so differently, I doubt they'd tolerate the same problem since fake liking (presumably) costs them money instead of making money. I don't know. I'd love to see an awesome video on how Google+ works too.

[@BvousBrainSystems]

Daniel Hale I don't care enough about Google+ to be interested by this, but a video on Twitter and maybe Tumblr would be really interesting.

[@danielhale1]

BvousBrainSystems I figure Google+ is worth knowing about because it's so closely tied to KZbin. We're watching this video right there, and both likes and often comments here are tied to Google+. So if the same problem affects Google+ and KZbin, it's worth knowing. I've tried to be discerning about the connections I accept, since I sometimes get Google+ connection requests from accounts that are *very* obviously junk accounts. It's very annoying, but manageable. I've noticed an even larger issue on LinkedIn, where the stakes are much higher (I use LinkedIn directly to seek jobs and find people to attract to my own company). I get tons of requests to connect from recruiters who want to talk to me, mystery people who I maybe know (but they fail to tell me who they are), and random people who have the slightest shred of a connection to me from 3+ degrees of separation. All of them insist that I connect with them first, and then they explain who they are or share the job details, or they just stay silent. Some have immediately started spamming me after I accepted the connection or e-mailed them asking for info. People think it's critically important to grow their networks by any means necessary, either to look more impressive or expand their data trawling ability (e.g. big data and marketing). But from our perspective they're all junk accounts that only drag us down. Parasites. :(

[@FathinLuqmanTantowi]

Daniel Hale i think fake likes in youtube would be more harmless than reposter who repost vids from other channel and add shitload of ads on it

[@danielhale1]

Fathin Luqman Tantowi Agreed. I hate the KZbin thieves. It's really hard for small content creators to protect their works. And this just makes the big corporations more aggressive with their blind robo-takedowns of people's videos. There's no winning. :(

[@Cosmickitten2012]

+Daniel Hale lol solve the problem by signing off facebook, personally I created mine like 10 years ago and seriously only use it to post comments on the internet, only one pic on my fb page and that's a pumpkin. Occasionally I log in to see if it's still there and I have no friends although I am bombarded with request from people to be my friend. Its kinda weird that strangers want to be a pumpkins friend. Just weird.

[@null8026]

It's not just Facebook doing this, but also Google (and I'm pretty sure everyone else). A year ago I spent 100$ to promote videos on my channel. 50$ on one particular video and the rest on the others. I've got 3000 views on one video and 4000 on the others. Despite targeting the audience that I know would like my videos, people didn't watch it for more than 30 seconds, less than a percent of all people that watched my videos were engaged, and the most importantly most of the traffic came from Vietnam and India. 100$ are just wasted.

[@RealationGames]

These videos are just pure gold. I have no use for this stuff(not a creator or follower), but I find this stuff that explains the background very interesting. Viral marketing is a science in itself.

[@ashishjog]

Virtual Cat has now over 12K likes...

[@David-ud9ju]

Presumably that's from people who have seen this video though.

[@vlogsofanundergrad2034]

@@David-ud9ju no what the hell, why would anyone who watched this video like that page, it goes completely against the message.

[@fitrianhidayat]

@@vlogsofanundergrad2034 for trolling

[@russell2449]

Now less than 12K, I liked that page and am number 11,876, WOOT!!! ;?D

[@gustre]

@@vlogsofanundergrad2034 i did and i dont know why i did so. i even paused the video to do it. and now i will continue watching the vid

[@genevievering7999]

This video is from 2014. Has FB changed it's practices or are they still the same?

[@manuelsoares4343]

Genevieve Ring nope

[@muhammedibrahim9452]

Even worse. They fucked up.

[@nazzbuzztutorials9256]

HELLL NO.... TODAY IS 2018 AND FACEBOOK STILL IS GIVING PEOPLE BOT LIKE! ONLY 1% OF IT IS REAL HUMAN VISITOR

[@Macintosh007]

No. I deleted my Facebook account because of this. Its useless garbage and a waste of time.

[@raiyan3348]

nope, and the same

[@eransasson20]

Well done !! Pedagogy about how social networks thrive is more than needed.

[@MyNamesChai]

Such a good video. Brilliantly put and I hope more people see this.

[@tmaxnun2]

Good work, I would think something like this should be illegal.

[@PragmaticAntithesis]

But then people like me, who will occasionally go on liking sprees, would be falsely convicted. It shouldn't be illegal to ban internet behaviors like random like-spamming because that's a violation of freedom of speech.

[@Craydy]

Your argument, that it would be "violation of freedom of speech." Is totally irrelevant. If they include a term in their conditions, that you are not allowed to go on a like-spamming spree or something like this, that they could totally ban you. No Problem with that.

[@PragmaticAntithesis]

Craydy Yes, but he's saying "illegal", not "against the guidelines". If facebook had a guideline for that, then it would be completely valid for you to say that. However, it is a crime against humanity is a government forced facebook to add that to the guidelines (which is what "illegal" implies). Sorry if that was a bit confusing...

[@JonatasAdoM]

Welcome to the internet. My father who's learning how to use a smartphone just discovered click bait videos and it infuriated him when I told him the truth.

[@rafaelsanchezmorcillo687]

+JonatasAdoM xxx extenso

[@electricdreamer]

I left facebook a long time ago. It's completely useless.

[@Notjobincome]

Not really, you will have to optimize your ad like testing different pages, ages, countries. It took me $600 to test certain pages, ages, and countries. Now My ROI is about $10 back for every $1 spent for a conversion. You will need a chunk of money first to test different things before you find the right targeted page. Its not useless, people give up because they spent over $100 and see no results, the key is to keep testing.

[@Bulbophile]

and yet their stock price is soaring, even now

[@FrankZen]

+Bulbophile see 2000s dot.com bubble....

[@commentcontrol7187]

not as bad though

[@Cooltaha]

its pretty shitty

[@donmahmud1326]

Respect and Real Like From Dhaka, Bangladesh living in the USA. Love what you doing. Dude my brother you got the balls to pick fight with the Giant of the internet. I am throwing in my full support for you and your cause......RESPECT

[@yafi2475]

I am from Dhaka, Bangladesh. And I am feeling ashamed

[@TonyStark-ze4ph]

Me too

[@Ciprian-Amarandei]

2 of my ex "clients" where from Bangladesh , Dhaka and both failed to pay for the services I've done for them. I cannot be in more agreement your statement.

[@abhishekshankar1136]

dude theres is nothing to feel ashamed about... its how stuff works

[@abhishekshankar1136]

infact i have seen a real click farm... so basically these guys purchase a very small room enough for 500 phones.. and they attach it onto wall and they are all connected to a central computer... so when such a guy at the computer gets a request he just programs all the phones to like that Facebook page from multiple accounts in the 500 phones that he bought.... so say he gets a request for 4000 likes he will just repeat the process 8 times over to reach 4000 likes... thats how he makes his living... its quiet profitable... plus there is a tie up with the guy and the phone distributor... so say he purchases 500 phones he will just give a portion of his share to the phone distributor everytime someone buys his like service.... thats how he pays off for the 500 phones(low quality).... eventually he will buy more and expand his business

[@sonicfoxxmusic4281]

See the comment above of Sonic Foxx Music..... I DID NOT write it on there....and when i tried to write this message in the "reply" ....it wouldn't allow me to....that is fraudulent activity. Welcome to the criminal internet.

[@xxebazz]

Dude you're such positive energy in this world! I hope youtube shitty policies don't end up kicking AWESOME creators like you out of the platform. Lots of us hate click-bait videos and NEED this kind of content!

[@RoyHembree]

I've seen a few videos discussing how Facebook is fraught with fake likes or how user engagement is low because liking a page doesn't guarantee it'll appear in fans' news feeds. This is the first video I've seen that connects the dots and really calls into question the house of cards that Facebook has built. Not that it matters how they built their house because they're still getting paid, but it's unfortunate that they don't deliver a better product for users.

[@SqueamishNerd]

This video made me realise that I needed to konmari my Facebook page likes, and can you imagine what I found out? 20 pages that had been removed, some of which I probably put my like on in high school (half a lifetime ago) and were things I would have NEVER pressed like on today, and they can't be removed from my like tab on my profile. The thing is that I konmaried my Facebook page likes just a few years ago, and back then these pages were hidden. Now I have to live with people seeing these things?

[@TonyToneFixMyPhone]

Thank you for showing this. I am a small business owner and I have spent about $2,000+ unawares by Facebook ads. *** ! NOT ONE SINGLE CUSTOMER ! *** Moreover, 1/8 reviews make it to my page. I contacted Facebook and they claim the people who wrote reviews are "probably" going home and deleting their posts. I contacted each and every one of them, and in fact they did not delete them. Plus I sent the screen shots to Facebook. Thank you again.

[@longhoang-pn1xf]

if you want to rent cloak FB and Google account plz contact me via: [phone]

[@vendfree9754]

Same thing here. I feel your pain. Wish we saw this video before we spent as much as you, and out of many of our clients, none were from FaceCrook.

[@Quest4vape]

thanks man, I was wondering about this. I post my youtube videos and some other content on my facebook page. It's an afterthought. My channel is niche, about e-cigarettes and vaping. KZbin would constantly ask me to boost post, so I'd try to throw like $3 at a boost campaign. The posts would get rejected, as they consider e-cigarettes to be tobacco related. NOW it gets interesting. I didn't really give a crap about facebook boost post campaigns, having a following and don't really care about facebook. But I would every now and then try to boost a post for $5. Soon Facebook began allowing me to boost, but the budget options were much greater. $20 then $40, $63, $90....I've spent $10 or $20 here and there a few times, but I thought it interesting they would reject my posts for the content, but then if I spent considerably higher budget on a campaign they would allow that. This combined with your video tell me something. Not only do they commit fraud, but they are happy to conflict their own policies if the price is high enough.

[@AlltimeConspiracies]

Fantastic video! A clear conspiracy.

[@413crossram]

***** conclusive*

[@abhishektiwari8514]

A little late, but here's a genuine like from India. 😬 Ironically the youtube ad before this video started was titled "facebook page growth" 😆

[@reecheshjchhaya5927]

Ironically 😂🤣🙏💐

[@splendor10]

😂😂

[@VulcanOnWheels]

I get an error message every time I try to share this video on Facebook. I'll try it again after I've found another video I want to share.

[@Legitgaming838]

*sus*

[@JohnLusher]

Fascinating to see it detailed out this way. Makes sense because a lot of people, myself included, have been suspicious of boosting posts on Facebook.

[@DrTammyCashion]

William Norton Steve Pittman

[@Steve-Pitt]

Saw this in another post. More reason to love G+

[@JohnLusher]

Agreed Steve Pittman

[@JohnLusher]

Mark Neace - the FB police are always watching :-D

[@AleCKik]

Mark Neace Did the same here, lets see what happens :)

[@paris9332]

One like from India. Genuine one..

[@afiqikkeri7958]

Pari Same 👍

[@jyotiumra6567]

Kapil

[@jyotiumra6567]

Jyoti

[@jyotiumra6567]

Kapil kamer

[@mycelium9629]

190th like!

[@MohammadHefny_HefnySco]

I am from Egypt and one of your true real big fan.

[@raysills]

Fascinating. Nice work doing the research to discover what's going on. For the record, I do not have a Facebook page. And, that will continue.

[@lomaspj]

I'm from Nepal and I'm a genuine fan of Veritasium.. but I know a lot of ppl who work all day infront of computer for very low money and click all day.

[@dungeonndragons7981]

testo kaam kosley dinxa?

[@StephanieTippie]

Thanks for taking the time to post this video there are so many who are not aware of Facebook algorithm and are falling into the trap of spending money and yes Time. I do not believe Facebook is the best venue for serious entrepreneurs.

[@sadlyitsmeee]

I'm from Dhaka, Bangladesh. And this is actually funny to see my country getting mentioned so many times (More precisely my city). lol.

[@arghyabiswas9855]

Yeah lmao

[@NaveedGhalib]

Glad i aint the only one who realized this and stopped paying for fb ad. Good job man

[@QuaziJack]

When click farms hear this, they might evolve into comment farms. fun.

[@18brandon92]

Darryl S lmaoooo we’d all be fucked

[@FirstLast-fr4hb]

The sea of spam would be the death of face book. No one would be able to communicate

[@e.priest8937]

That is inevitable. That's what AI is for

[@bradleydunphy]

I'm not a bot, and this might be the first time i have ever commented on youtube.... BEST VIDEO I've seen in a few weeks... I love knowledge and this is quite a good one for telling people why the number of likes is stupid... thanks for the video

[@TriageII]

I know this is an old video, but there is actually another reason why click farms click other ads. Some companies pay for that, so that the ads from their competitors go nowhere. I only know that because I had a friend who engaged with that to promote his local store, it can lead to a legitimate business being spammed with bots and click farms even though they never did.

[@theinteriordesigncommunity]

Fake Likes are a huge problem on Facebook. I have a FB page with about 5K fans. 2 years ago, my engagement was great. I would post great content, friends and fans would like and comment. When FB changed their algorithm to go after sponsored posting, initially I was OK with it. I felt like I had gotten free engagment for a long time and understood that they needed to make money. However, I experienced the same thing as presented in this video. I was getting more "likes" but no more engagement. When I sponsored a post, the "likes" I got on the post itself were not my usual engagers... they seemed to be fake accounts. When I restricted my sponsored post to target my audience, the very same thing happened. This is a no win situation for small businesses. Will you still get lots of engagement if you are a huge brand or celebrity.. probably people will be seeking your information more... but it is not the same viral quality that we knew in the past. This is a MAJOR reason I switched to #googleplus a year and a half ago. And I do not regret it one bit.... But, I would do the same WITH G+ if they move to this model. You can not rely on any social network totally for your social engagement... realize that things change, audiences change... keep moving with the river of progress and you will be OK.

[@AnnDrake]

Well said Laurie Laizure. I have over 7k likes on my page but my reach is sometimes a couple hundred. I've moved on to Instagram and am spending more time here on G+. Live and learn.

[@theinteriordesigncommunity]

Ann Drake : I love that you are really into Instagram. I have about 3K followers there and I like the platform a lot. Do you get any traffic from it. I do not get much but I think I may just not be putting enough call to action in my posting. I keep it light there and let a lot of "me" shine through. For me, ***** and Google+ are my main platforms right now. Everything else is 2nd or 3rd tier.

[@AnnDrake]

Laurie Laizure No I don't get much traffic from Instagram. There isn't an actual live link so that is hard. I just let my followers know a new post is up and add a pretty picture! I'm just starting out so not sure about much yet. It's fun though and anything is better than Facebook! My No. 1 traffic source is Pinterest by far.

[@theinteriordesigncommunity]

WORD! Mine too! I do love Instagram for the instant, polaroid style fun it can be. Would love to spend more time there.... I need to clone me!

[@danahendrickson9355]

Diversity is key when it comes to #SocialMedia . I too noticed my shrinking engagements on Facebook. I now focus the majority of my energy on Google. There is so much fabulous content relating to social media & #seomarketing on Google+. I am constantly reading and experimenting with different avenues to promote businesses. It's wonderful to have thought provoking content providers like you Laurie Laizure and Peg Fitzpatrick and so many others. I have learned a ton and found new #business tools from #bloggers who have shared their trials & tribulations while stumbling through the Social Media world.

[@rebane2001]

Someone should try this: Make an ad in a language not popular (eg estonian, I can use it, but only a million people live in Estonia and at least third of them can't speak estonian) and see, from where you'll get the likes

[@mkirby3450]

+rebane2001 : that would be even more hilarious.

[@maxmustermann8663]

+rebane2001 That's right, I do a german site and half of my likes are (since I do Facebook-Advertising) from complete arab profiles (marked as living in germany, ha.ha.). They won't even understand the ad.

[@hendrik7368]

+rebane2001 Even though this topic is no longer that relevant, I have a student company from Estonia. I bought ads purely out of interest for 5€, and the results: i.imgur.com/wMueIml.png There are members in our student company from Latvia, Sweden and Portugal, but the rest of the countries are very random and none of us have any friends there, those who liked it wouldn't even understand the page.

[@hendrik7368]

+rebane2001 There are also likes x 1 from Hong Kong, Pakistan and Azerbaijan.

[@rebane2001]

x

[@Barnacules]

Fantastic video! Thank you.

[@JackGuillemette]

I would of never guessed...

[@gamesandgadges]

Me to

[@Blazed7867]

Barnacules Nerdgasm

[@I_feel_inspired]

For some months ago I had notice that I was subscried to many odd pages which I personally never been on or heard about it. I have unsubscried from all of them and then reviewed my KZbin settings to make sure this wont happen again. Now I only have 2 subscriptions which one of them is your channel. The things that many of us ignore are the settings we have on the account but I learned that lesson since then. (Y)

[@puyakhalili]

Would be great to get an update about this! This is crazy!!

[@barnicskobalazs]

from the other comments it looks like it's still a thing.

[@taxevasiongaming]

Damn

[@guestuser3664]

Wow, I didn't know I could get the most important SEO lesson of my life here.

[@salimalbitar]

*SEM and IKR?!

[@Lanka007]

I am from Colombo, Sri Lanka....I truly love your page....I watch all your videos...

[@toomuchcandor3293]

thats what a fake liker would say...

[@SuaveToday]

Congrats on 10 million subs dude, you deserve every one

[@Domeneeek]

I'm from the Philippines and I am a genuine like.

[@2DHouse]

Derek, Please be careful. We don't want to find you in a ditch soon :P.

[@ErnestJay88]

Yeah, mark JEWISHberg will send his SS troops to Derek's houses :D #justkidding

[@nitvishn]

I'm from India and i LOVE Veritasium!!! Not all indians work in click farms :P

[@thecoder7188]

do they pay you $2 a day or what

[@nitvishn]

Axmed Nuur Just bcoz I live in india that doesn't mean I work in a click farm....

[@thecoder7188]

***** it is ok to be in there

[@nitvishn]

Axmed Nuur Be where

[@sebastianbennette5727]

+Axmed Nuur you're being kinda racist

[@chrissachith]

I’m from Sri Lanka, and I love your channel. With a dream of following astronautical engineering, your channel help me build more curiosity, People here don’t really know channels like this