LinkedIn bot battle wipes 50% of Apple employee accounts

AppleInsider

The number of LinkedIn accounts that claim to be Apple employees was cut in half overnight thanks to a renewed effort to kick bots from the platform.

Many bot accounts claimed to work for Apple

Fraudulent activity had been ticking up on LinkedIn with fake accounts claiming to belong to organizations they did not belong to. These accounts would use fake or altered photos and profile descriptions lifted from legitimate employees.

The fake account and bot problem are so pervasive, a report from Krebs on Security shows major corporations claimed employee count cut significantly in October. For example, Apple went from 576,562 LinkedIn accounts to 284,991 in just a single day.

A developer named Jay Pinho noticed the dramatic change in employee numbers while creating a product that would be used by organizations to track company data. Amazon saw a similar employee number decline from 1.2 million to 838,601 in the same overnight.

The rapid decline in accounts was attributed to bot deletion. Although, LinkedIn didn't respond to questions beyond a statement saying it was constantly working to keep the platform free of fake accounts.

Apple's LinkedIn profile shows 281,213 active employee accounts at publication. Apple's website describing diversity initiatives has a lower non-specific figure sourced from 2021 -- "more than 165, 000 talented employees."

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crowley

Hah!  We should set the same bot on the membership of AppleInsider forums.

coolfactor

Is the definition of a "bot" being redefined when it comes to social media networks? A bot is generally an autonomous entity, short for robot. Fake accounts (possibly created by real people) are not bots. Are these fake accounts being created by bots, and are not bots in and of themselves, as the article suggests?

We live in a weird world.

netrox

That's much needed - there are so many fake accounts with agendas, wasting people's time. They need to do the same with employment. I am tired of getting resumes that show lack of qualifications. 

daalseth

I’d look to there being a LOT fewer leaks from “Anonymous Apple Employees”.

edited October 2022

geekmee

LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft.

welshdog

I had a linked in quite some time ago, but deleted it. I didn't like having my real name loose on the Internet. Why would they not require some sort of authentication to create and sign in to an account? Seems like that would eliminate true bots very easily.

BTW deleting an account there was not straightforward at all, they had it well hidden. Might be easier to do nowadays.

ravnorodom

Fake resumes with fake schooling and background are everywhere in Linkedin. I think there are more. My boss hired a guy with fake resume. We fired him in two weeks after he didn't know how to work on Excel plus other stuffs. My wife knows someone who claims speaking multiple language and that person actually uses Google Translate. The person got fire in 2 days.

dewme

coolfactor said:

Is the definition of a "bot" being redefined when it comes to social media networks? A bot is generally an autonomous entity, short for robot. Fake accounts (possibly created by real people) are not bots. Are these fake accounts being created by bots, and are not bots in and of themselves, as the article suggests?

We live in a weird world.

Count me in on those with terminology confusion but also those who don’t know what possible purpose bots would serve on a platform like LinkedIn, other than to vandalize the site with lots of useless data and dead-end contact information.

The kind of bots you see on social media, forums, product reviews, email spam cannons, etc., are intended to benefit someone in some way, even if their methods are shady. Bots can deliver advertising, spew political propaganda, pump up subscriber numbers, distort product review ratings, etc. You may not agree with what a bot is doing, but it’s usually quite obvious that someone is trying to profit in some way from a bot.

Linked-In has kind of turned into a Facebook for Professionals, a way for people to network and advertise their personal brand rather than posting pictures of their dogs, kids, and meals. Are Linked-In bots looking to get hired so they can work with other like-minded professional bots? Are these bots seeking career challenges, perhaps on something having to do with the metaverse? (Hint to Bots: contact Mark Zuckerberg, he needs you.) Maybe these bots are looking for professional growth opportunities that leverage their educational background and work history? 

If the root cause of most anything can be determined by “following the money,” where does the money trail lead to with these Linked-In bots?

edited October 2022

ichbinglitched

The headline really should say .. wipes 50% of apple "employees" ... since actual employees didn't have their accounts deleted.