Facebook has become known in recent years for the ruthless enforcement of its internal content rules, to the point that posting anything on the site can sometimes feel like opening your mouth in Stalinist Russia—you never know if you're going to become an Unperson by saying the wrong thing.

But the social media company has apparently allowed millions of users to skirt around those rules without being punished:

In private, the company has built a system that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules, according to company documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The program, known as "cross check" or "XCheck," was initially intended as a quality-control measure for actions taken against high-profile accounts, including celebrities, politicians and journalists. Today, it shields millions of VIP users from the company's normal enforcement process, the documents show. Some users are "whitelisted"—rendered immune from enforcement actions—while others are allowed to post rule-violating material pending Facebook employee reviews that often never come.

Interesting: A relentlessly overbearing system of rules and regulations that doles out loads of punishment to ordinary, powerful people while allowing a favored elite to write their own rules and game the system indefinitely. It really does sound like Stalinist Russia!

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