Facebook has a secret internal system that exempts 5.8 million users from having to follow the rules on its platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The paper on Monday published an investigation detailing how high-profile users on its services who are "newsworthy," "influential or popular, or "PR risky" don't see the same enforcement action as do ordinary users, citing company documents it had viewed.Figures like former President Donald Trump,
before he was banned
soccer star Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and even Doug the Pug are covered by the system, nicknamed "XCheck" or "cross check." The system was created in response to the shortcomings of Facebook's dual human and AI moderation processes.
Less than 10% of the content that XCheck flagged to the company as needing attention was reviewed, per a document reported by the paper. Facebook spokesperson Andy Stone told the Journal that the number grew in 2020 but did not provide evidence to support that assertion.
Most Facebook employees have the power to add users to the XCheck system for whitelisting status, a term used to describe high-profile accounts that don't have to follow the rules. But the Journal viewed a 2019 audit that found Facebook doesn't always keep a record of who it whitelists and why, which poses "numerous legal, compliance, and legitimacy risks for the company and harm to our community."