Zuckerberg hearing: Facebook founder attacked by US politicians for site's 'bias' and failure to protect users - as it happened
Your support helps us to tell the story
My recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.
Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.
Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyond
Eric Garcia
Washington Bureau Chief
After navigating nearly five hours of questions from 44 US senators on Tuesday about the abuse of citizen's data, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has done it all again on Wednesday.
Once again, he was attacked on a range of fronts: as well as the company's failure to protect its users data, politicians questioned the site's perceived bias against conservative voices, and its use for selling illegal materials like drugs.
The billionaire Facebook boss will testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, which was seeking answers following revelations that Cambridge Analytica harvested personal information from 87 million Facebook profiles for the purpose of voter profiling.
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
He concludes his opening remarks:
My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together. Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that as long as I’m running Facebook.
I started Facebook when I was in college. We’ve come a long way since then. We now serve more than 2 billion people around the world, and every day, people use our services to stay connected with the people that matter to them most. I believe deeply in what we’re doing. And when we address these challenges, I know we’ll look back and view helping people connect and giving more people a voice as a positive force in the world.
I realize the issues we’re talking about today aren’t just issues for Facebook and our community — they’re challenges for all of us as Americans. Thank you for having me here today, and I’m ready to take your questions.
Questions have begun, starting with Mr Walden. His final question is what we all want to know: "Given the situation, can you manage the issues that are before you or should Congress intercede?"
Unfortunately he's out of time, and Mr Zuckerberg doesn't have to answer.
Over to House Energy Ranking Member Frank Pallone. He's opting for yes/no questions to avoid the problem Mr Walden ran into.
"Yes or no, will you commit to changing all the user default settings to minimize the collection of user data?"
Mr Zuckerberg replies: "Congressman, this is a complex issue that I think deserves more than a one word answer."
Mr Pallone's approach is also failing against the well-trained Facebook founder. "I'm disappointed," he says.
Over to Joe Baron, who reminds everyone that Mr Zuckerberg is here on his own free will. He also sends Mr Zuckerberg some metaphorical flowers by saying what a great success story Facebook has been.
He's following Ted Cruz's line of questions from yesterday by asking why Facebook censored conservative news.
Mr Zuckerberg admits a mistake and apologizes. "When I talk about giving people a voice, that's what I care about," he says.
It's now the turn of Bobby Rush. There's no such fawning from the man from Illinois.
"You're truncating the basic American rights as set out in the United States Declaration of Independence - 'Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' - by the wholesale invasion of their right to privacy," Mr Rush says.
He also cuts down Mr Zuckerberg's repeated comments about Facebook being started in a dorm room, by saying it is a massive company and therefore has massive responsibilities.
Cambridge Analytica, the data firm that sparked this two-day hearing, was tweeting furiously throughout yesterday's hearing.
There hasn't been a peep out of them for last 18 hour. Conspicuously quiet.
Here's a take on Mr Zuckerberg's comments on regulation from former White House adviser Ashkan Soltani:
When in doubt, say you don't know. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo takes the approach of yes/ no questions.
"Yes or no: Are you willing to change your business model in the interest of protecting individual privacy?"
"Congresswoman, I'm not sure what that means," Zuckerberg replies.
More praise of Facebook, this time from Congressman John Shimkus. He tells Mr Zuckerberg how his company has helped his 88-year-old father stay connected.
Mr Zuckerberg is taking questions from Michael Burgess. He asks if the average consumer can understand Facebook's terms and conditions when it comes to privacy.
"If someone wanted to know they could," Mr Zuckerberg says, before adding that most people probably don't bother reading the terms of service.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments