Embattled Facebook CEO executive Mark Zuckerberg will finally testify in Congress, weeks after stunning revelations that as many as 50 million of his site’s users had their data compromised.
A chorus of lawmakers demanded the 33-year-old exec come to testify to explain the data breach beginning last month, when the extent of the lapse was revealed.
The leaders of a House oversight committee say Zuckerberg will testify before the panel on April 11.
He has previously said he would do so if it was the ‘right thing to do.’
In this April 18, 2017 file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at his company’s annual F8 developer conference in San Jose, Calif. The leaders of a key House oversight committee say Zuckerberg will testify before their panel on April 11. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, file)
In an announcement Wednesday, Reps. Greg Walden and Frank Pallone say the hearing will focus on the Facebook’s ‘use and protection of user data.’
That would put lawmakers of both parties into the thick of the sensitive issue of how the firm sets up controls to protect its users, while simultaneously running a lucrative and sophisticated online advertising business.
On the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Commerce Committee also has called for Zuckerberg to come and explain how Facebook would ‘safeguard users’ data.’ A letter released last week by panel chair Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Bill Nelson of Florida made the request.
‘We believe Mr. Zuckerberg’s testimony is necessary to gain a better understanding of how the company plans to restore lost trust, safeguard users’ data, and end a troubling series of belated responses to serious problems,’ the senators said.
Facebook is facing scrutiny over its data collection following allegations that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained data on tens of millions of Facebook users to try to influence elections.
Walden, R-Ore., is the House Energy and Commerce committee’s chairman. Pallone of New Jersey is the panel’s top Democrat. They say the hearing will be ‘an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.’
In this May 25, 2017, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the commencement address at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
LET’S TALK: Lawmakers began pressuring Zuckerberg to testify after the breach was revealed
FILE- This March 28, 2018, file photo shows the Facebook logo at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. Facebook is asking users whether they think it’s ‘good for the world’ in a poll sent to an unspecified number of people. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
The firm pushed back against reports on the startling harvesting of personal information.
‘The claim that this is a data breach is completely false,’ the company said when it banned Cambridge Analytica. ‘People knowingly provided their information, no systems were infiltrated, and no passwords or sensitive pieces of information were stolen or hacked,’ it said.
Zuckerberg previously told CNN when asked if he’d be willing to testify: ‘The short answer is I’m happy to if it’s the right thing to do.’
The appearance by one of the world’s richest and most powerful CEOs is certain to draw international coverage.
The world’s largest social media network is under growing pressure from governments, investors and advertisers. This follows allegations by a whistleblower that British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed users’ information to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect U.S. President Donald Trump in 2016.