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The governor of Florida has ordered an inquiry into possible election interference by Facebook after a bombshell report found that the company had favored certain political figures.
Ron DeSantis, the Republican leader of the state, on Monday said that he was deeply troubled by a report earlier this month alleging favoritism from the social media giant.
‘Floridians deserve to have faith that their elections are free from Big Tech interference, and corporations like Facebook deserve to be held accountable for actions that erode the legitimacy of our institutions,’ said DeSantis.
He was angered by a September 13 report in , which revealed that Facebook has a secret program in place that allows celebrities and powerful people to skirt the social network’s own rules.
Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, on Monday launched an inquiry into Facebook’s ‘whitelisting’ policies, which allowed some celebrities and political candidates to post freely, but curtailed others
The Silicon Valley giant’s program, called ‘XCheck’ or ‘cross check,’ created a so-called ‘whitelist’ of celebrities who are immune from enforcementIt was initially designed to protect the company from bad publicity in the event that it moderated content from some of the more high-profile users. Instead, critics say that it has shielded those same users from the rules that apply to the general public.
The paper found that not all political candidates were on the XCheck list, which would give an advantage to those who were.
‘It’s no secret that Big Tech censors have long enforced their own rules inconsistently,’ said DeSantis, explaining his decision to order an inquiry into the process.
‘If this new report is true, Facebook has violated Florida law to put its thumb on the scale of numerous state and local races.
‘Floridians deserve to know how much this corporate titan has influenced our elections.
‘That is why I am directing Secretary Lee to use all legal means to uncover violations of Florida’s election laws.
‘The thought of Facebook clandestinely manipulating elections is an affront to the basic principles of our republic.
We the people have the right to choose our representatives, whether or not Silicon Valley approves.’
The list of protected celebrities and VIPs on the XCheck list include Brazilian soccer star Neymar; former President Donald Trump; his son, Donald Trump Jr; Senator Elizabeth Warren; model Sunnaya Nash; as well as Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself.
DeSantis is pictured in November 2019 with Donald Trump, a close ally.
Trump was banned from Facebook in the aftermath of the January 6 riot, although the ‘whitelisting’ policy had been around long before
Mark Zuckerberg is pictured with Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook, in July at the Sun Valley conference in Idaho
In 2019, a live-streamed employee Q&A with Zuckerberg himself was suppressed after Facebook’s algorithm mistakenly ruled that it violated the company’s guidelines.
Movie stars, cable talk show hosts, academics, online personalities, and anyone who has a large following is protected by ‘XCheck’ on both Facebook and its subsidiary, Instagram.
As of last year, there were 5.8 million Facebook users covered by ‘XCheck. Here is more on european xxx indian porn videos indian xxx porn – savorlondonmassage.co.uk, visit the webpage. ‘
The program has been in place for years – well before Trump was banned from the platform after he was accused of fomenting the January 6 riot at the US Capitol.
The Journal relied on internal documents provided to it by employees of the company who say that the program shields celebrities from enforcement actions that are meted out against the platform’s more than 3 billion other users.
If a VIP is believed to have violated the rules, their posts aren’t removed immediately but are instead sent to a separate system staffed by better-trained employees who then further review the content.
Facebook has a secret program in place that allows celebrities and powerful people to skirt the social network’s own rules, according to a bombshell report
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left) and Senator Elizabeth Warren (right) are among the VIPs protected by the program, according to The Wall Street Journal
‘XCheck’ allowed international soccer star Neymar to post nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape in 2019.
The images were deleted by Facebook after a whole day, allowing them to be seen by Neymar’s tens of millions of his followers.
While Facebook’s standard procedure calls for deleting ‘nonconsensual intimate imagery’ as well as deleting the account.
But Neymar’s nude photos of the woman were allowed to remain for a full day and his account was not deactivated.
An internal review by Facebook described the content as ‘revenge porn star xxx‘ by Neymar.
‘This included the video being reposted more than 6,000 times, bullying and harassment about her character,’ the review found.
Neymar has denied the rape allegation and accused the woman of attempting to extort him.
No charges have been filed.
The woman who made the allegation was charged with slander, extortion, and fraud by Brazilian authorities. The first two charges were dropped, and she was acquitted of the third.
‘XCheck’ allowed international soccer star Neymar (seen above in Brazil on September 9) to post nude photos of a woman who had accused him of rape in 2019.
The images were deleted by Facebook after a whole day, allowing them to be seen by Neymar’s tens of millions of his followers
Najila Trindade Mendes de Souza, accused Neymar of rape and sexual assault at a Paris hotel in 2019.
Neymar, who was never charged, has denied the allegation
The Journal cites an internal review which acknowledges: ‘We are not actually doing what we say we do publicly.’
‘Unlike the rest of our community, these people can violate our standards without any consequences,’ according to the internal review cited by the Journal.
<div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS news" data-version="2" id="mol-a2045370-2014-11ec-83d2-730c72016476" website DeSantis begins inquiry into Facebook for election interference