After posting this funny video the other day, I had a short exchange with a friend on Twitter:

Lo and behold, the FT now reports about fictitious Likes on Facebook. Is this as bad as fake clicks on ads and fake Twitter accounts? No. It's worse.
Fake clicks and fake Twitter accounts are generally generated by software robots. Yes, an advertiser loses money and yes, the advertising platform in question loses credibility. However, fake Likes on Facebook go one step further as the FT reports. Not only do advertisers and Facebook lose out, individual people's identities would seem to be used inappropriately to endorse certain advertisers.
Now, it's easy to see who's directly responsible for creating click fraud schemes and fake Twitter accounts -- individual fraudsters, not platforms like Google or Twitter themselves (though they certainly do take responsibility for policing their platforms). But who's responsible for fake Likes on Facebook?