Headline
Meta Cracks Down On Fake Accounts, Deletes 10 Million Profiles

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has intensified its campaign against inauthentic behaviour on its platforms, announcing the removal of over 10 million fake profiles and about 500,000 spam accounts in the first six months of 2025.
The company said the move is part of a broader initiative to combat impersonation, fake engagement and content duplication — a strategy aimed at prioritising originality and ensuring that genuine creators are more visible across the platform.
Meta explained that accounts found to be reposting or recycling content without permission or meaningful edits will face consequences, including reduced reach and loss of access to monetisation tools.
“We’re making progress. In the first half of 2025, we took action on around 500,000 accounts engaged in spammy behaviour or fake engagement. We also removed about 10 million profiles impersonating large content producers,” Meta said in a blog post on Monday.
READ ALSO:Falana Sues Meta For $5m Over Alleged Privacy Invasion
The company said repeated sharing of unoriginal content — including videos, photos, or text — diminishes the platform’s integrity by drowning out authentic voices and making it difficult for new creators to gain traction.
To support legitimate creators, Meta is rolling out new tools that automatically trace reposted content back to its original source. The company says this will help elevate authentic content and ensure credit goes to the rightful owners.
“Pages and profiles that post mostly original content tend to enjoy wider distribution across Facebook. Simply stitching clips together or adding a watermark will no longer count as meaningful editing. Content that provides real value and tells an authentic story is likely to perform better,” Meta stated.
The company also cautioned against uploading content that carries watermarks from other platforms, saying such posts could result in penalties like reduced distribution or removal of monetisation privileges.
READ ALSO:Meta Agrees To Pay Trump $25m To Settle Account Ban Lawsuit
As part of the latest update, Meta has introduced post-level insights on the Professional Dashboard, allowing creators to track the performance of individual posts. Creators can also check their Support Home screen to determine if their content or earnings face potential restrictions.
In a parallel move, Google’s YouTube has issued an update to its monetisation guidelines, announcing that content deemed mass-produced or excessively repetitive will no longer qualify for ad revenue.
The policy update initially caused confusion online, with some creators interpreting it as a clampdown on AI-generated content. However, YouTube later clarified that this is not the case.
“We welcome creators using AI tools to enhance their storytelling, and channels that use AI in their content remain eligible to monetise,” YouTube said in a statement.
Both tech giants say these changes are designed to raise content standards and strengthen protections for creators in an increasingly competitive digital ecosystem.
Headline
White House Slams Trump’s Nobel Prize Snub

The White House lashed out at the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Friday after it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and overlooked US President Donald Trump.
“The Nobel Committee proved they place politics over peace,” White House Director of Communications Steven Cheung said on X.
“President Trump will continue making peace deals, ending wars, and saving lives. He has the heart of a humanitarian, and there will never be anyone like him who can move mountains with the sheer force of his will.”
READ ALSO:White House Threatens Mass Firings Amid Stalled Shutdown Talks
Since returning to the White House for his second term in January, Trump had repeatedly insisted that he deserved the Nobel for his role in resolving numerous conflicts — a claim observers say is broadly exaggerated.
Trump restated his claim on the eve of the peace prize announcement, saying that his brokering of the first phase of a ceasefire in Gaza this week was the eighth war he had ended.
But he added on Thursday: “Whatever they do is fine. I know this: I didn’t do it for that, I did it because I’ve saved a lot of lives.”
Nobel Prize experts in Oslo had insisted in the run-up to Friday’s announcement that Trump had no chance, noting that his “America First” policies run counter to the ideals of the Peace Prize as laid out in Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will creating the award.
AFP
Headline
Transgender Woman Jailed For Deceiving Man About Gender In UK

A British court has sentenced a transgender woman, Ciara Watkin, to 21 months in prison for deceiving a man into sexual activity by falsely claiming to be a biological female.
According to a BBC report on Friday, the victim told Durham Crown Court he would not have consented to the sexual encounter had he known Watkin was biologically male.
The court heard that Watkin, 21, from Thornaby in Stockton-on-Tees, was found guilty of sexual assault after jurors rejected her claim that the man “would have realised” her gender identity.
Recorder Peter Makepeace KC said he was “certain” the victim “fully believed from start to finish” that Watkin was a woman due to her “lies and deception.”
READ ALSO:NERC Transfers Regulation Of Electricity Market To Bayelsa
Watkin, who was born male and had used the name Ciara since childhood, had not undergone any medical transition or surgery, the BBC reported.
Both Watkin and the victim were 18 when they met on Snapchat, where she used a female cartoon character as her profile picture. They later met in person, leading to sexual contact. Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court that Watkin even claimed to be menstruating to stop the man from touching her below the waist.
When Watkin later confessed to being biologically male, the man said he was “physically sick” and immediately reported the matter to the police.
“He said he was shocked and upset about being deceived, adding that he felt ashamed, embarrassed, and had been ridiculed online due to Watkin’s actions and deception,” the report stated.
READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons
The victim, who described himself as heterosexual, told the court he felt “part of his masculinity was taken away.”
Defence counsel Victoria Lamballe argued that Watkin’s actions were not “predatory or sadistic” but stemmed from “shame and a deep sense of discomfort” with her own body.
She said Watkin, who has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, identified as female from primary school and had endured years of bullying.
“It is hardly surprising that Watkin built up a façade and presented almost as a caricature of herself to mask the inner turmoil she feels at having been born into the wrong body,” Lamballe said, adding that Watkin “simply wanted to be loved.”
READ ALSO:Transgender Inmates Panic As Trump Orders Transfer To Men’s Prisons
However, Recorder Makepeace ruled that the victim was “totally deceived,” saying Watkin had lied to “get away” with her deception and was aware the man would not have consented if he knew her biological sex.
The judge also criticised Watkin’s attitude during the trial, describing her as “flippant, disinterested, and bored,” showing “not a shred of remorse.”
He said, “At the heart of this case was your frustration at wanting sexual experiences with heterosexual males, which, by definition, you needed to deceive to achieve.”
Watkin will serve her sentence in a male prison, where authorities said protective measures would be taken to ensure her safety. She will also remain on the sex offenders register for 10 years and has been issued a lifetime restraining order preventing contact with the victim.
Detective Constable Martin Scotson of Cleveland Police said Watkin “purposely concealed her sex in order for the sexual activity to take place,” adding that he hoped the conviction would allow the victim to “move forward with his life.”
Headline
Burkina Rejects US Deportees, Calls Trump’s Proposal Indecent

Captain-Ibrahim-Traore
Burkina Faso, ruled by a junta hostile to the West, has refused to take in people kicked out of the United States, in a snub to one of President Donald Trump’s signature migration policies.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, his administration has made deporting people to third countries — often to nations they have no connection to — part of a sweeping immigration crackdown.
In Africa, Eswatini, Ghana, Rwanda and South Sudan have all accepted people expelled from the United States in recent months. But late on Thursday, Burkina Faso’s foreign affairs minister said the west African country had refused Washington’s overtures.
READ ALSO:Junta-led Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger To Launch Common Passport
“Naturally, this proposal, which we considered indecent at the time, runs completely contrary to the principle of dignity,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said on national television.
Hours earlier, the US embassy in the capital Ouagadougou announced the suspension of regular services for most visas for people living in Burkina Faso.
Instead, Burkinabe citizens will now have their services handled in Lome, the capital of neighbouring Togo.
“Is this a way to put pressure on us? Is this blackmail? Whatever it is… Burkina Faso is a place of dignity, a destination, not a place of expulsion,” Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore said.
READ ALSO:US Deportations ‘Profoundly Disturbing” — UN Official
Burkina Faso’s leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore, styles himself as an anti-imperialist Pan-African strongman.
Since seizing power in a coup in September 2022, he has shunned former colonial master France and the wider West, forging closer ties with Russia instead.
- Politics4 days ago
Jonathan Dragged To Court Over Bid To Participate In 2027 Election
- News2 days ago
JUST IN: Court Orders IGP To Arrest Mahmood Yakubu, Ex-INEC Chairman
- News4 days ago
Group Defends VC Selection At FUGUS, Alleges Sabotage By Petitioners
- Politics1 day ago
JUST IN: Council Of State Meets As Tinubu Presents Nominees For INEC Chair
- News3 days ago
Group Throws Weight Behind Benin Monarch’s Decision On Iyaloja
- News3 days ago
Recruitment: Customs Announces Exam Date For Shortlisted Applicants
- News3 days ago
Yakubu Hands Over To New INEC Acting Chair
- News2 days ago
JUST IN: Tinted Permit Enforcement Placed On Hold Due To Court Order – Police
- News3 days ago
UNIBEN Bans Students’ Sign-out Celebration
- Metro2 days ago
Reason Benin Oba Market Was Gutted By Fire Revealed