The mystery Facebook Project would have allowed famous people to skip moderation.
ByShehryar Makhdoom | Published date:
According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook has a covert program to treat athletes, politicians, and other well-known users, exempting them from its normal moderation procedure. According to rumors, the tool was devised to put out PR fires, which are made when highly-followed people are taken down for inappropriate information.
However, this tool allows these individuals to violate the regulations without repercussions, according to the research.
Journal journalists claim that
XCheck, also known as "cross-check," is in place to help ensure that high-profile individuals have proper quality control when it comes to moderating their accounts. To properly enforce Facebook's standards, posts from users reported for XCheck are directed to a group of moderators with more training. However, as of 2020, the program was credited as protecting 5.8 million people, according to a document acquired by the Journal.
In addition, just 10 percent of the posts that appear on XCheck are examined.
According to the article, former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Candace Owens are among the high-profile users shielded by the program. The report claims that customers often have no idea they're receiving preferential attention.
Facebook admitted to the Publication that
XCheck is imperfect and that the corporation is taking steps to correct the program. A spokeswoman explained that the approach was designed to "enforce policies more precisely on information that could require greater understanding." According to them, "Facebook itself discovered the problems with cross-checking and has been striving to solve them."
While it's a horrible look for Facebook, which has promised strict adherence to its policies, none of this is especially shocking on some levels.
Facebook's guidelines for moderating the site are extremely extensive.
The corporation has always been open that the rules are at their discretion and are thus permitted to provide leniency to prominent names or inappropriate content if they fear it would lead to further problems.
According to the Journal, Facebook has mechanisms that aid and hinder its ability to delete potentially offensive posts.
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