Ron DeSantis launches investigation into Facebook for election interference ...

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 The Wall Street Journal, which revealed that Facebook has a secret program in place that allows celebrities and powerful people to skirt the social network's own rules.

The Silicon Valley giant's program, called 'XCheck' or 'cross check,' created a so-called 'whitelist' of celebrities who are immune from enforcement.

It 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; and Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg himself.

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.'

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.

'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' 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.

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.

A spokesperson for Facebook told the Journal that the program 'was designed for an important reason: to create an additional step so we can accurately enforce policies on content that could require more understanding.'

An internal review found that even when Facebook does take action against protected accounts, it does so belatedly.

Last year, 'XCheck' allowed posts that violated Facebook guidelines to be viewed at least 16.4 billion times before they were finally removed, according to a document obtained by the Journal.

The spokesperson, Andy Stone, said the company is in the process of phasing out its' whitelisting' policies as it relates to 'XCheck.'

'A lot of this internal material is outdated information stitched together to create a narrative that glosses over the most important point: Facebook itself identified the issues with cross check and has been working to address them,' he said.

The Journal interviewed dozens of current and former Facebook employees who say the company is aware of the flaws on its platform and the harm they cause but is either unwilling or unable to address them.

One person who is seeking federal whistleblower protection has turned over the documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as to Congress.

Facebook's own internal reviewers know that the platform has been used for illicit activity between Mexican drug cartels as well as for human trafficking.

The company is also aware of the effect that the social network has on teens' mental health, according to the Journal.

But Facebook did not move to address those issues for fear that it would hurt its bottom line, according to the Journal. 

Trump is currently banned from Facebook for two years, but company officials recommended taking disciplinary action against him as early as June of last year because of his post about the riots that broke out after the death of George Floyd.

Trump initially shared the post to both Twitter and Facebook shortly before 1am on the night of May 29, 2020 - following a third night of violent protests in Minnesota over the death of Floyd. 

The post read in full: 'I can't stand back & watch this happen to a great American City, Minneapolis. A total lack of leadership. Either the very weak Radical Left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the City under control, or I will send in the National Guard & get the job done right.