Mark Zuckerberg warned Facebook scandal threatens the whole internet ahead of public grilling in Brussels
The Facebook chief was told that social media giants could make internet users lose trust in going online unless steps are taken to get them back on side
MARK Zuckerberg has been warned the scandal engulfing Facebook is endangering the Internet itself as he faces a public grilling in Brussels today.
EU security chief Julian King told him social media giants risk damaging people’s trust in going online beyond repair if they don’t act to get the public back on side.
He made the remarks in an interview with The Sun as the embattled Facebook founder touched down in Europe to face the music in the EU Parliament.
Mr Zuckerberg will be questioned by Brussels top brass at meeting which was initially to be closed but will now be live-streamed following a rebellion by leading MEPs.
He will also meet with French president Emmanuel Macron but has snubbed a request to appear before the UK Parliament, enraging MPs.
Ahead of the trip Mr King warned firms like Facebook and YouTube their days of hosting terrorist propaganda and fake news without consequences “are over”.
He said the industry’s slow reaction to extreme content “risks sinking public confidence in the Internet itself” and revealed Britain is poised to join a major regulatory crackdown.
The security chief vowed if online firms fail to reform their practices, eurocrats will bring forward legislation to do the work for them.
Mr King told The Sun: “For too long Internet platforms have done too little to keep their users safe from fake news and terrorist content. Those days are over.
“We’re putting real pressure on the platforms to act fast on these issues. If they don’t we’re ready to make them act, for example on terrorist content.”
He warned the Cambridge Analytica scandal was “the tip of a behavioural manipulation and fake news iceberg that risks sinking public confidence in the Internet itself”.
The consultancy company harvested the Facebook profiles of 87 million people, including at least a million Britons, for personal data that was used in political campaigning.
Last night spurned British MPs sent their colleagues in the EU Parliament a list of questions they want the Facebook chief to answer.
They asked MEPs to grill him over when he first knew about the breach, how much Russian money was spent on political adverts and the influence of fake accounts.
Damian Collins, chair of the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, said: “The Facebook data breach was executed in the UK and the data went to a UK company, affecting over one million UK users.
“The UK Parliament therefore should be able to question Mark Zuckerberg about this and the lessons to be learned from it, and we remain open to him giving evidence.
“But if Mark Zuckerberg chooses not to address our questions by directly, we are asking colleagues at the European Parliament to help us get answers- particularly on who knew what at the company, and when, about the data breach and the non-transparent use of political adverts which continue to undermine our democracy.”
Meanwhile Mr King revealed the UK was ready to mirror EU proposals, which it has played a big part in shaping, designed to bring social media companies to heel.
He explained: “This is an area where there is absolutely no daylight between the UK and the rest of the EU – I don’t expect that to change.”
EU officials told The Sun the Commission is taking a twin-track approach designed to pressure net firms into voluntarily cleaning up their act.
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They said it was “far more effective and far faster” to encourage the likes of Facebook and YouTube to police themselves.
But if they fail to put in place sufficient measures eurocrats are “serious” about tabling legislation that could include punishments like fines.
Last month the Commission gave social media firms until the end of the year to enact plans based on a new EU-wide code of practice on disinformation.