By Onyeanya Ebere Immaculata
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has intensified its efforts to combat inauthentic behavior on its platform, announcing the removal of more than 10 million fake profiles and 500,000 spam accounts during the first half of 2025.
The crackdown targets impersonation, fake engagement, and unoriginal content; all aimed at boosting visibility for genuine creators and promoting originality across Facebook.
According to Meta, accounts that recycle or repost others’ content without significant changes will face penalties, including limited reach and the loss of monetization tools.
“We’re making progress,” the company said in a blog post on Monday. “In the first half of 2025, we took action on around 500,000 accounts engaged in spammy behavior or fake engagement. We also removed about 10 million profiles impersonating large content producers.”
Meta emphasized that repeated posting of unoriginal material, including videos, images, and text undermines authentic voices on the platform.
To address this, the company is rolling out new tools to credit original creators, helping their content surface more prominently.
“Pages and profiles that post mostly original content tend to enjoy wider distribution across Facebook,” Meta noted. “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.”
In addition, Meta is warning users against sharing watermarked content from other platforms, stating it could lead to reduced reach or even the loss of monetization privileges.
As part of the update, Meta has also introduced new post-level insights in the Professional Dashboard.
Creators can now monitor post performance more closely and check the Support Home screen for any restrictions that might affect their content or earnings.
Meanwhile, YouTube has unveiled a similar policy, announcing that it will no longer monetize mass-produced or overly repetitive content.
The move initially caused confusion online, with some creators expressing concern about its impact on AI-generated videos.
However, YouTube clarified that the changes are not targeted at creators who use AI to enhance storytelling.
“We welcome creators using AI tools to enhance their storytelling,” YouTube said. “Channels that use AI in their content remain eligible to monetize.”
Both Meta and YouTube say these updates are part of broader efforts to maintain content quality, protect original creators, and adapt to the fast-changing digital content landscape.
