Facebook deletes fake police accounts

According to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Facebook sent a letter to the Memphis Police Department (MPD) asking it to stop creating and using fake accounts to solicit information for their investigations.

As detailed in the letter from Andrea Kirkpatrick, Facebook’s director and general counsel for security, the MPD was asked to stop creating fake accounts on Facebook, as it is a clear violation of the social network’s terms of service and policies.
“Facebook has made it clear that law enforcement is also subject to these policies,” Kirkpatrick said. “We consider this activity a violation of Facebook’s terms and policies, and as a result, we have disabled the fake accounts we identified in our investigation.”
Fox13 obtained a response from MPD saying the fake account under the name Bob Smith was deleted before Facebook sent the letter to police.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), the fact that Facebook’s legal department is enforcing the rule even for law enforcement agencies that knowingly violate the social network’s standards is a good sign since it levels the playing field when it comes to questionable “authentic name” policies.
The EFF presented evidence showing that law enforcement agencies know that creating fake accounts on Facebook violates the social network’s terms and policies, but choose to do so anyway, given that the collected data could be used in court. A common example is illegal online surveillance and information gathering by activists.