Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Docs Reveal Secret Elite Exempt

Facebook is using a program that whitelists millions of VIP users from the company’s standard content moderation practices, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The program is known as “cross-check” or “XCheck,” and it creates special rules for content moderation when it comes to millions of VIP accounts on Facebook and Instagram, according to internal documents obtained by the Journal.

That report, which cites internal Facebook documents, said at least 5.8 million VIP Facebook users in 2020.

Mark Zuckerberg has publicly said Facebook Inc. allows its more than three billion users to speak on equal footing with the elites of politics, culture, and journalism. Its standards of behavior apply to everyone, no matter their status or fame.

In private, the company has built a system that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules, according to company documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Every day Facebook users can have their content taken down immediately if the company’s artificial intelligence technologies or contracted content moderators find their posts to be in violation of the company’s rules. Users in the XCheck program, however, may have their content stay live on Facebook’s services before being routed into a separate moderation system. That process is also staffed by better-trained content moderators who are full-time employees, according to the report.

Among them is soccer star Neymar. In 2019, he posted nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape to his Facebook accounts, according to the report. This type of content would have typically been removed, but XCheck protected Neymar’s account and blocked Facebook moderators from taking it down right away.

Ultimately, 56 million Facebook and Instagram users saw Neymar’s content, according to the report.

A Facebook spokesperson told the Journal that the company is phasing out the practice of whitelisting. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Thank you to the WSJ. Read the full report on The Wall Street Journal.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebook-files-xcheck-zuckerberg-elite-rules-11631541353?mod=djemalertNEWS

Important Security Update for all Apple Products!

Apple announced a security update for all its products yesterday (Sept 13, 2021) and you need to do it NOW!

Simply go to Settings . General > Software Update.  It only takes a few minutes and be sure to have your iPhone or other device plugged in while updating.