Why it matters: LinkedIn is one of the most respected social networks around, having largely avoided the scandals and repercussions that accompany people at their worst. Much of that has to do with the fact that people are generally on their best behavior on LinkedIn because their professional careers depend on it but Microsoft also deserves some credit for helping to keep the riff raff at bay.
In the first six months of 2019, LinkedIn took action on 21.6 million fake accounts. Notably, the social network said it prevented 19.5 million of those fake accounts from being created at the point of registration. Another two million fake accounts were pulled before members could even report them thanks to the work of artificial intelligence, machine learning and human reviewers. Only 67,000 profiles were reported by members as being fake.
All told, roughly 98 percent of all fake accounts that had action taken against them were done so through automated defenses.
Paul Rockwell, head of trust & public safety at LinkedIn, said that when they stop fake accounts, they start more chances for economic opportunity.
Since launching in May 2003, LinkedIn has managed to amass more than 645 million members. That pales in comparison to the numbers that the competition has attracted - Facebook, for example, has more than 2.41 billion monthly active users - but again, LinkedIn is largely a controversy-free zone by nature and Microsoft would like to keep it that way.
Masthead credit: LinkedIn by Sundry Photography