Independent Supervisory Board Requests Clarification On Facebook's Cross-Check Policy

JAKARTA - Facebook Inc's Independent Supervisory Board said on Tuesday, September 21 that it had asked the social networking giant to provide clarity on the system it uses to review content decisions relating to some high profile (famous) users.

The board's investigation follows a Wall Street Journal report last week that stated that Facebook had excluded high-profile users from some or all of its rules, raising questions about its enforcement decisions against harmful content.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed that the company will brief the board on a system known internally as "cross-checking" over the coming days.

The WSJ also reports the cross-checking system includes millions of accounts, some of which are "whitelisted", meaning they are immune from Facebook law enforcement decisions.

The Supervisory Board said it had asked Facebook to explain how the cross-checking system works and share its criteria for adding pages and accounts to the program. The board said Facebook did not provide its criteria.

Facebook created a Board of Trustees last year as part of an effort to address criticism of the way it handles problematic content. The social media company committed to providing $130 million in trust funds to fund the board. This so-called board is able to make the final decision on whether individual pieces of content can remain on their site.