Facebook rubbished a report from Mark Zuckerberg's old Harvard classmate, which claims that half of Facebook’s users are fake

mark zuckerberg

Mark Zuckerberg's former classmate Aaron Greenspan published a report last week claiming that more than 50% of Facebook accounts are fake.
Facebook dunked on the report, calling it "unequivocally wrong."
Greenspan claims to have had the original idea for Facebook, and has been an outspoken critic of the social network.
In his report, Greenspan acknowledged a certain degree of bias.

Facebook has outright dismissed a report from Mark Zuckerberg's former Harvard classmate, which claimed more than half of the social network's users are fake.

The report was published last week by Aaron Greenspan, who studied alongside the billionaire tech executive and claims to have come up with the idea for Facebook first.

In the 75-page study, Greenspan said fake accounts make up more than half of Facebook's 2.2 billion users. This contradicts Facebook, which in 2017 said just 2-3% of accounts on the platform were fake.

"Facebook has been lying to the public about the scale of its problem with fake accounts, which likely exceed 50% of its network. Its official metrics — many of which it has stopped reporting quarterly — are self-contradictory and even farcical," the report said. "The company has lost control of its own product."

Facebook strongly denied the findings. "This is unequivocally wrong and responsible reporting means reporting facts, even if it’s about fake accounts," a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. Facebook did not give any further explanation. Business Insider contacted the firm for more detail.

Greenspan has been a vocal critic of Facebook in the past. In August last year, for example, he said the platform has caused "countless deaths" because of its addictive qualities. In his report, Greenspan acknowledged a certain degree of bias.

"The author of this report is in the strange position of trying to write objectively about a topic to which he has personal ties. Readers are accordingly welcome to dismiss this analysis as biased, but should be aware that nonetheless, it may still be correct," he wrote.

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: British Airways has a $13 million flight simulator that taught us how to take off, fly, and land an airplane