SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook ramped up efforts Friday to get rid of “Likes” that aren’t from people genuinely interested in giving a virtual thumbs up to pages at the world’s leading social network.

“We have recently increased our automated efforts to remove Likes on pages that may have been gained by means that violate our Facebook terms” of service, the Facebook security team said in a blog post.

“These newly improved automated efforts will remove those Likes gained by malware, compromised accounts, deceived users or purchased bulk Likes.”

Facebook has long given members the ability to endorse pages at the social network by clicking on “Like” icons.

High numbers of Likes can give “fan count” status to pages, particularly those dedicated to brands.

“A Like that doesn’t come from someone truly interested in connecting with a page benefits no one,” Facebook said.

“This improvement will allow pages to produce ever more relevant and interesting content, and brands will see an increase in the true engagement around their content.”

Facebook expected that less than one per cent of the fan count on any given page would be trimmed as a result of the crackdown on “suspicious Likes.”