5.8 million Facebook users have VIP pass

San Francisco: At least 5.8 million high profile Facebook users have VIP pass that allows them to break rules without consequences, the media reported.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the tech giant is using a programme that whitelists millions of VIP users from the company's standard content moderation practices.

The programme is known as "cross check" or "XCheck" and it creates special rules for content moderation when it comes to millions of VIP accounts on Facebook and Instagram, according to internal documents obtained by the Journal.

That report, which cites internal Facebook documents, said there were at least 5.8 million VIP Facebook users in 2020, CNBC reported on Monday.

"The WSJ piece repeatedly cites Facebook's own documents pointing to the need for changes that are in fact already underway at the company," Andy Stone, Facebook policy communications manager, wrote on Twitter.

"We have new teams, new resources and an overhaul of the process that is an existing work-stream at Facebook," he added.