Facebook busted with Xcheck: 'whitelists' celebs, VIPs from FB rules

The elite have always had the attitude of "rules for thee, but not for me" but Facebook is in trouble, yet again, this time with its now-not-so-secret XCheck program.

Facebook's internal XCheck program lets whitelisted users break the same rules that would otherwise see a regular user, or someone on the opposite side of the political spectrum, get banned. XCheck, otherwise known as just Cross Check, has improved quality control when it comes to moderation from high-profile users like celebrities, and politicians.

XCheck is meant to see posts made by whitelisted users get flagged, and have them routed through better-trained moderators to make sure that Facebook's rules are upheld and enforced. Instead, XCheck users -- some 5.8 million of them -- were being protected in 2020. Just 10% of the posts that were flagged for XCheck got reviewed, according to a document witnessed by The Wall Street Journal.

A Facebook spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that XCheck was meant to "accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding" and that the company itself has "identified the issues with cross check and has been working to address them".