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posted by janrinok on Tuesday September 14 2021, @01:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the double-standard dept.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/09/leaked-documents-reveal-the-special-rules-facebook-uses-for-5-8m-vips/

Facebook had a problem on its hands. People were making posts that got caught in the company's automated moderation system or were taken down by its human moderators. The problem wasn't that the moderators, human or otherwise, were wrong to take down the posts. No, the problem was that the people behind the posts were famous or noteworthy, and the company didn't want a PR mess on its hands.

So Facebook came up with a program called XCheck, or cross check, which in many instances became a de facto whitelist. Over the years, XCheck has allowed celebrities, politicians, athletes, activists, journalists, and even the owners of "animal influencers" like "Doug the Pug" to post whatever they want, with few to no consequences for violating the company's rules.

"For a select few members of our community, we are not enforcing our policies and standards," reads an internal Facebook report published as part of a Wall Street Journal investigation. "Unlike the rest of our community, these people can violate our standards without any consequences."

"Few" must be a relative term at Facebook, as at least 5.8 million people were enrolled in the program as of last year, many of them with significant followings. That means a large number of influential people are allowed to post largely unchecked on Facebook and Instagram.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday September 14 2021, @02:16PM (1 child)

    by digitalaudiorock (688) on Tuesday September 14 2021, @02:16PM (#1177694) Journal

    That's known as 'freedom of expression'. I don't recognize any "right" that Facebook might have to control any narrative. The only things they should target for moderation, are unlawful posts, such as discussions of asassinations, gay bashing, racism, planning crimes, and the like.

    I see you still believe in those "free markets" right up until they do something that you don't like I see. This is getting absurd. As has been pointed out to you at least 1,000 times here, no private company is required to give you a platform. Can you go into a restaurant and carry around a protest sign without getting kicked out? If course not, because free speech is protected in public places. But you knew that already. Give us a fucking break.

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  • (Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 15 2021, @12:56AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 15 2021, @12:56AM (#1177913)

    I see you still believe in those "free markets" right up until they do something that you don't like I see.

    And a lot of people on the left say they don't trust corporations or the "free market" but then turn around and become hardcore free marketeers when it comes to corporate censorship, despite often being targets of said censorship. There's plenty of hypocrisy to go around.

    I'm on the left and I want to regulate these companies into oblivion. No oligarchs can be trusted.