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Facebook Fraud

Veritasium · explainer · Watch on YouTube

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What it is

Veritasium argues that Facebook's ad revenue relies partly on fake likes, after paying to promote his page and gaining tens of thousands of followers in developing countries who never engaged. He shares his experiment and cites other cases.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Frequently cited as the source for claims about click farms and fake likes in Facebook advertising, though some argue its methodology was flawed.

  • 7 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2014, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “There's a good analysis for this phenomenon”

    Analysis of click farms and wasted ad spend.

    simias, 2014-04 · Recommendation · in “Facebook CPC – Don't Waste Your Money”

  2. “walks through an experiment and explanation, for those who are interested.”

    Experiment and explanation of Facebook ad fraud.

    Riseed, 2014-04 · Recommendation · in “Facebook CPC – Don't Waste Your Money”

  3. “It's worth checking out his videos if you want more detail on the patterns he found.”

    Breakdown of fraudulent unengaged views from paid promotion.

    vacri, 2014-04 · Recommendation · in “Facebook earnings gain as ad sales surge 82%; CFO is stepping down”

  4. “I found them pretty interesting listening”

    Interesting view from content-distribution side.

    Veedrac, 2015-03 · Recommendation · in “Reasons not to use Facebook”

  5. “Here are two videos that succinctly introduce the reality of facebook's mirage”

    Succinct introduction to Facebook's hollow foundation.

    lingben, 2015-08 · Recommendation · in “Why Facebook’s video theft problem can’t last”

  6. “See a real live experiment someone did, to figure out the true reach and ROI on Facebook Advertizing.”

    Real experiment on Facebook ad reach and ROI.

    sean_patel, 2016-11 · Recommendation · in “We turned $140k on Kickstarter into $40k debt and broke even”

  7. “Veritasium had a really good video on how facebook benefited from people buying legitimate”

    Explains how Facebook profited from click-farm dynamics.

    game_the0ry, 2025-11 · Recommendation · in “Meta projected 10% of 2024 revenue came from scams”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: fake likes, click farms, facebook ads, advertising, veritasium

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