Facebook reportedly excused high-profile users from its rules
Facebook reportedly exempted millions of high-profile users, including celebrities and politicians, from some or all of its public standards, apparently contradicting the social network’s public statements that its laws apply to everyone.
The Wall Street Journal, citing internal documents, reported Monday that the world’s largest social network became a program known as Cross Check, or XCheck, that shielded Republican figures from the company’s rules against harassment and incitement to violence. The documents, for example, revealed that Facebook allowed Brazilian soccer player Neymar da Silva Santos Jr. to post nude photos of a woman who accused him of rape afore it pulled down the content, according to the characterize. Some high-profile users who were exempted from content moderation enforcement public false claims, including about vaccines.
An internal review of Facebook’s practices from 2019 stated the commercial “was not actually doing what we say we do publicly.” The XCheck program also concerned most government officials but not all candidates running for office, according to the report. In 2020, at least 5.8 million users were reportedly part of XCheck.
Facebook has faced criticism from both Democrats and Republicans near what content it leaves up or pulls down. The documents will probable raise concerns again about whether the social network is fairly enforcing its laws. The company formed a content oversight board to journal some of its toughest decisions.
Citing a post from 2018, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said in a tweet on Monday that the program was aimed to give certain Facebook pages and profiles a “second layer of journal to make sure we’ve applied our policies correctly.”
“There aren’t two rules of justice; it’s an attempted safeguard against mistakes,” he said in the tweet.
Facebook’s oversight boarding said in a tweet it recommended that the commercial “be far more transparent in general, including about its administration of high-profile accounts, while ensuring that its policies employment all users fairly.”
Advocacy groups and some of Facebook’s most vocal moderators called for more oversight over the social network.
“Urgent government rule is needed to ensure the online world is one in which biosphere rights are effectively protected. These disclosures underscore the fact that we modestly cannot rely on companies to self-regulate,” said Agnès Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, in a statement.
