Enlarge (credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Facebook maintained secret deals with a handful of companies, allowing them to gain “special access to user records,” long after it cut off most developers’ access to such user data back in 2015, according to a new Friday report by the Wall Street Journal, citing court documents it did not publish and other unnamed sources.

These arrangements, which were known as “whitelists,” reportedly allowed “certain companies to access additional information about a user’s Facebook friends,” including phone numbers.

Numerous companies, including the Royal Bank of Canada and Nissan Motor Company, apparently maintained such deals.