As many as 83 million Facebook accounts may come from dubious sources -- duplicate accounts, pages for pets and those designed to send spam.
There are "inherent challenges" in measuring usage "despite our efforts to detect and suppress such behaviour", the social network said.
It said duplicate accounts - when a same user maintains more than one account - may represent some 4.8 per cent of active users.
Another 2.4 per cent may be for a business, group or "non-human entity, such as a pet" and 1.5 per cent are likely "undesirable" accounts that use the accounts for spam or other malicious activity.
"We believe the percentage of accounts that are duplicate or false is meaningfully lower in developed markets such as the United States or Australia and higher in developing markets such as Indonesia and Turkey," Facebook said in its quarterly filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
"We are continually seeking to improve our ability to identify duplicate or false accounts and estimate the total number of such accounts, and such estimates may be affected by improvements or changes in our methodology."
Facebook members grew to 955 million at the end of the second quarter, but some 8.7 per cent may be dodgy, the filing said.
The number of real users is critical for Facebook as it seeks to secure advertising revenues from the world's biggest social network. Some analysts have expressed doubts that the company can boost revenues.
Graham Cluley of the British security firm Sophos said fake accounts are a fact of life but could affect Facebook's bottom line.
"Clearly all Facebook users are interested in the site becoming a safer place, and the level of spam and malicious links being minimised," Mr Cluley said in a blog post.
"But more than that, companies who are considering advertising on the social network want to be sure that any 'likes' they receive are from genuine users, not bogus accounts."
Facebook's share price is getting closer to losing half of its value since its highly anticipated public offering.
It lost 84c, or 4 per cent, to close yesterday in the US at $US20.04 a share.
Another 5 per cent decline would bring it to $US19 - half of its initial offering price of $US38.
The stock traded as low as $19.82 during Thursday's session.
The share price has been falling since Facebook released quarterly earnings last week for the first time as a public company.
Investors were disappointed despite second-quarter results meeting Wall Street expectations, with revenue one-third higher than last year.
Facebook began trading publicly in mid-May. But since then, investors have been concerned about its ability to keep increasing revenue and make money from its growing mobile audience.
Many analysts hold positive long-term views.
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