Evaluating access control list data for a social network

A method, comprising:

• detecting, by a processor, a request to view, by a viewer, an entity page of an entity in a social network, the entity having users that follow the entity;
• fetching, by the processor, a first row of data from a database associated with the social network, the first row being of the entity and the first row of data including a set of bits from the users that follow the entity;
• establishing, by the processor, a first determination as to whether certain ones of the users that are following the entity are to be displayed as following the entity in the entity page based on the set of bits;
• fetching, by the processor, a second row of data from the database, the second row of data associated with the viewer,
• establishing, by the processor, a second determination as to whether the viewer is in one of groups of the users that are following the entity;
• and
• displaying, by the processor, users that are following the entity to the viewer when the users pass one of the first determination or the first and second determination,
• wherein the second determination is to validate whether the viewer is in one of the groups of the users that are following the entity based on an access control list (ACL) bit in the second row of data.

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon program instructions that when execute, causing a processor to perform operations comprising:

• detecting a request to view, by a viewer, an entity page of an entity in a social network, the entity having users that follow the entity;
• fetching a first row of data from a database associated with the social network, the first row being of the entity and the first row of data including a set of bits from users that follow the entity;
• establishing a first determination as to whether certain ones of the users that are following the entity are to be displayed as following the entity in the entity page based on the set of bits;
• fetching a second row of data from the database, the second row of data associated with the viewer,
• establishing, by the processor, a second determination as to whether the viewer is in one of groups of the users that are following the entity;
• and
• displaying users that are following the entity to the viewer when the users pass one of the first determination or the first and second determination,
• wherein the second determination is to validate whether the viewer is in one of the groups of the users that are following the entity based on an access control list (ACL) bit in the second row of data.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a processing device, coupled to the memory, to:
• receive a request to view an entity page of an entity by a viewer, the viewer having a user
• account in a social network and the entity having an entity account in the social network;
• fetch a first data associated with the entity, the first data including first edge (FE) data that identify a first plurality of users of the social network that have added the entity to one of their following groups, the first data further including second edge (SE) data that identify a second plurality of users that the entity has added to one of its following groups, wherein the FE data include a first indicator relating to visibility and a second indicator relating to being public;
• establish, based on the first and second indicators, a first determination as to whether certain ones of the first plurality of users are to be displayed as following the entity in the entity page, wherein the first determination decides whether the certain ones of the first plurality of users are visible and whether the certain ones of the first plurality of users are public, to cause
• users that are not identified as visible not to be displayed in the entity page to the viewer;
• fetch a second data associated with the viewer, establish a second determination as to whether the viewer is in one of the groups of the second plurality of users, wherein whether to present users that are identified as visible but not as public depends on the second determination;
• and
• present for display users that are following the entity to the viewer when the users pass one of the first determination or the first and second determinations.