"dead" servers that look populated in the server browser, but aren't.

So my problem is that all of the servers on the server browser list seem to be populated nicely, but once you join it, there's no one in it and you're the only one in there
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I heard someone say that these servers were using something called "population hack" or something and that it always looks populated. This wasn't an issue like a month or so ago, so why is it like this out of nowhere? These dead servers are baiting people to join because it looks populated and once you join there is either no one in it or maybe 3 people.
I found this to be the issue for almost all of EU servers that are available, have not tested the NA or other regional servers because the ping is not good.