Tech

Facebook’s oversight board demands clarity on rules for high-profile users

A person in a Hazmat suit covers the Facebook logo with warning tape.

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images)

Facebook’s oversight board is investigating claims the social media group allowed some high-profile users to break its rules and accused the company of withholding information on the matter.

The board, a “Supreme Court: style body created to oversee its content moderation processes, on Tuesday said it was looking into “the degree to which Facebook has been fully forthcoming” when responding to its previous inquiries about “cross-check,” an internal system used to review content from politicians, celebrities and journalists to ensure posts were not mistakenly removed.

According to an exposé by the Wall Street Journal published last week, the system had ballooned to include millions of users, and was sometimes used to shield some users from enforcement even if they broke Facebook’s rules, a practice known as whitelisting.

Read 10 remaining paragraphs | Comments