Silvio Berlusconi

Fake Silvio Berlusconi Facebook Page

By blogfromitaly on | From blogfromitaly.com

After the attack on Italy’s prime minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday, a number of Facebook pages sprang into life. Some Facebook pages praised the actions of Tartaglia, Berlusconi’s assailant, whereas others supported Berlusconi, and one seems to be fake.

I became curious when I noticed the names of a few people I knew listed as Berlusconi ‘fans’ on Facebook. Odd, I thought. As far as I knew, the people listed were not huge fans of Italy’s tanned supremo, to say the least.

In actual fact, the Sosteniamo SILVIO BERLUSCONI contro i FAN di massimo tartaglia page on Facebook- which has over 380,000 fans, is a re-hash of an existing page, or so I have been advised by one ‘fan’ who isn’t.

Upon hearing this, I asked some more questions – ironically, via the Facebook messaging system.

After Digging

As a result of digging further, I discovered that what had happened is that someone, somehow renamed a Facebook page to give the impression that Berlusconi has more fans in Italy than perhaps he does.

This fake Facebook page has attracted more members this morning, and judging by some of the comments, many of the new members are genuine Berlusconi fans.

This is the Facebook page in question:

Sosteniamo SILVIO BERLUSCONI contro i FAN di massimo tartaglia – Translated: Let’s support Silvio Berlusconi against Massimo Tartaglia’s fans (Tartaglia = the man who attacked Berlusconi).

Is Facebook Sailing Towards Trouble?

It is a good idea to be careful when using Facebook. As this incident shows, you may end up being tarred with a brush which you did not want to be tarred with.

Friends may lose their trust in you, and potential employers may decide that there are better people for the job.

Web 2.0 is fantastic – but it can be exploited. The Facebook people need to bear this in mind – otherwise Facebook could well end up being closed down as a result of huge lawsuits or by droves who leave the social network in search of safer pastures.

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