[tpudlik]

Looks like the fundamental problem is that a substantial number of users are perfectly willing to sign up for providing fake likes, as long as they receive fake likes in return. A tragedy of the commons.

[rhacker]

> tragedy of the commons

Huh, I thought that was about shared resources getting ruined.

[bittercynic]

The shared resource is the validity of like counts.

[BeFlatXIII]

To be fair, the validity of like counts and other similar engagement metrics being polluted is a good thing.

[hollerith]

A tragedy of the commons and the "autoliker" problem described in the OP are both "coordination problems": people are worse off because they do coordinate with each other.

[splithalf]

Sort of the same thing isn’t it?

[truth_]

> tragedy of the commons

No tragedy of scale is only limited to one socio-economic sect. There's a proverb in Bengali- "When the village burns, can the temple be safe?"