Zuckerberg hearing : Facebook CEO says firm is in 'arms race' with Russia and is working with Mueller election probe - as it happened
Data abuse scandal threatens to harm the social network forever
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Your support makes all the difference.Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced more than five hours of questions from the joint Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees over the privacy and the use of citizen's data..
The long-awaited showdown – one of the first times that Mr Zuckerberg has spoken publicly since a data scandal hit – saw nearly half the US Senate, 44 legislators, interrogate Mr about an issue that threatens to permanently damage the site he co-founded.
Mr Zuckerberg agreed to testify in Congress after revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was sold access to personal information from 87 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica denies any laws were broken
In his testimony, Mr Zuckerberg disclosed that his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working hard to change its own policies.
“We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," he said. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.”
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Mr Zuckerberg apologised for his company's errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging. However, as he answered questions, Facebook shares surged and closed up 4.5 per cent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.
Mr Zuckerberg said it had been “clearly a mistake” to believe the data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had deleted user data that it had - although Analytica said on Tuesday that it had deleted all the data. Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook had considered the data collection “a closed case” because it thought the information had been discarded and therefor that is why it did not inform users when it became aware of the data use in 2015.
The Facebook founder said the company is going through “a broader philosophical shift in how we approach our responsibility.” He said the company needs to take a “more proactive role” that includes ensuring the tools it creates are used in “good and healthy” ways.
He denied that Facebook, which has more than two billion monthly users across the world, was a monopoly. “It certainly doesn't feel that way to me,” Mr Zuckerberg said.
The billionaire appeared mostly comfortable with the questioning, with some senators struggling with some aspects of the technology. Although Mr Zuckerberg was at points to point out repeatedly that Facebook "does not sell" advertising and that users "have full control" over the data they provide.
Asked about the prospect of regulation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mr Zuckerberg said that his company would back "the right regulation".
Mr Graham asked whether the company "would work" with Congress to craft that regulation, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied: “Absolutely.”
Agencies contributed to this report
That senator was Lindsay Graham, who is now asking about regulation. Mr Graham now asks if Facebook is willing to work with Congress to create regulation. Mr Zuckerberg says he is.
There will likely be criticism that that may amount to the fox running the henhouse.
Senator Patrick Leahy presses Mr Zuckerberg hard on role of his company in what the UN has previously called a "textbook case of ethnic cleansing" of Rohingya from Myanmar, holding up a blowup image of a post calling for the death of a Muslim journalist.
“That threat went straight through your detection, spread very quickly, and then it took attempt after attempt after attempt and the involvement of civil society groups” to get Facebook to take it down, Mr Leahy says.
“What’s happening in Myanmar is a terrible tragedy and we need to do more,” Mr Zuckerberg started to answer before Mr Leahy said, “We all agree its terrible”.
Mr Zuckerberg says the company is hiring “dozens” more Burmese language content reviewers, taking down accounts of “specific hate speakers”, and putting together a special product team that will produce some kind of “specific product changes” in Myanmar that he did not specify.
Senator Dubin gets to the nub of the issue on the table, asking Mr Zuckerberg to share with Congress which hotel he stayed in last night.
Surprisingly, Mr Zuckerberg chooses not to share that information.
More on that regulation line of questioning:
Senator Lindsey Graham: “Why should we let you self-regulate?”
Mr Zuckerberg: “I think the real question is what is the right regulation?”
Mr Zuckerberg says that Facebook will provide Graham’s office with suggestions for good regulations.
Mr Zuckerberg has been doing his best impression of a politician today, skirting round questions and obfuscating answers.
Senator John Cornyn asks about selling data to advertisers. Mr Zuckerberg says that is a misconception that "Facebook does not sell data".
Mr Cornyn says that the company "clearly rents it" - Mr Zuckerberg says that they merely place adverts based on which users advertisers want to see their adverts.
He says no data changes hands.
Senator John Cornyn brings up Facebook’s early motto of “move fast and break things” and asks if that was was indicative of some of the mistakes that were made.
Mr Cornyn asks if Facebook and the like can be seen as “neutral platforms” as they once may have claimed to be.
Mr Zuckerberg replies: “I agree that we are responsible for the content.”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz focused his questioning on whether or not Facebook is guilty of liberal bias against conservative content.
He questions are all along those lines, Mr Zuckerberg bats them off.
After a short break, Mr Zuckerberg comes out and corrects an earlier statement, saying that Cambridge Analytica WAS an advertiser in 2015 and therefore could have been banned by Facebook.
He says it was a "mistake" not to do so.
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