Mark Zuckerberg To Testify Before House Energy And Commerce Committee
April 4, 2018Mark Zuckerberg To Testify Before House Energy And Commerce Committee
UPDATED, 5:33 AM Wednesday:
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The House Energy and Commerce Committee confirmed Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify before the committee at on April 11, acceding to demands from Capitol Hill that he answer questions about the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
“This 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,”Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR) and Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), said in a statement. “We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions.”
CNN first reported Facebook’s co-founder would testify — and hoped to drag Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey with him into the public spotlight. A Facebook spokesperson declined to confirm the report.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley last week called on the three tech executives to appear before an April 10 data-privacy hearing to discuss past and future policies regarding the protection and monitoring of consumer data. Other legislators have been urging Zuckerberg to travel to Washington, D.C., to address the issue.
Facebook has been buffeted for a week by reports that the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica used data harvested from 50 million Facebook users, without their knowledge or consent, to influence the 2016 presidential election. The firm, which advised Donald Trump’s campaign, repeatedly has denied these claims.
The social media giant has embarked on a campaign to restore users’ confidence in the platform in the wake of these damaging revelations, with Zuckerberg and COO Sheryl Sandberg granting media interviews and issuing statements intended to reassure users that Facebook will safeguard their data.
Meanwhile, prominent tech figures including WhatsApp co-founder Bryan Acton urged users to vote with their clicks and DeleteFacebook.
It is time. #deletefacebook
— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018
Elon Musk followed suit, deactivating the Facebook pages for two companies he leads, Tesla and SpaceX, and declaring publicly that the social media platform “gives me the willies.”
Tesla and SpaceX Leave Facebook After Twitter Users Encourage Musk https://t.co/qNNfNHehJ2 #Tesla #SpaceX #ElonMusk #Facebook
— Tesla Motors Club (@TeslaMotorsClub) March 24, 2018
Technology analyst Daniel Ives of GBH Insights called Zuckerberg’s decision a step in the right direction, saying it will help calm the public.
“While this will not be a pleasant experience for Zuckerberg and his team going in front of Congress, it is a necessary smart strategic step for Facebook to head to the Beltway as the public fury continues to grow around the Cambridge data leak which represents the darkest chapter in the company’s 14 year history,” Ives wrote.