Mark Zuckerberg is being trolled online ahead of today’s Congress grilling over data scandal
FOLLOWING months of demands, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will front a United States congressional committee on arguably the most important stop of his apology tour.
The 33-year-old has agreed to appear before the US Congress on Wednesday and is set to apologise for his company’s role in its latest data privacy scandal and for allowing foreign interference in the 2016 presidential election.
According to his prepared remarks released prior to his appearance, he will say sorry for the social network company not taking “a broad enough view of our responsibility”.
His company is under fire in the worst privacy crisis in its history after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, gathered personal information from 87 million users to try to influence elections.
Facebook is among the biggest spenders when it comes to corporate lobbyists on Capital Hill but Mr Zuckerberg’s appearance in front of politicians could be his best chance to stave off the threat of US federal regulation.
It’s been reported that over the years that Facebook has donated to 46 of the 55 members on the US House Energy and Commerce Committee he is due to front.
In the testimony released by the committee, which he is expected to deliver in person in the morning, the Facebook boss apologises for fake news, hate speech, a lack of data privacy and foreign interference in democratic elections via his platform.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” he says in the remarks. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
The prepared remarks do not reveal new information about how data was shared or what Facebook will do in addition to recent token changes to protect peoples’ data.
Some believe Facebook execs will be keen to speak about matters of user privacy during the hearing if it means avoiding too much scrutiny placed on Facebook’s monopoly in the social media space amid growing calls for antitrust legislation to be used to break the company up.
The ongoing response to Facebook’s handling of its latest data scandal — as well as a number of limp apologies from Mark Zuckerberg in the past — has led to a fairly cynical reaction from many commentators regarding his impending testimony.
Tech publication Gizmodo shared a “bingo card to play while Mark Zuckerberg spews bulls**t on Capitol Hill”.
And apparently others had the same idea ...
On Monday, Mr Zuckerberg met privately with the leaders of the Senate committee. Though best known for his uniform of jeans, runners and a fitted grey T-shirt, he wore a suit and tie for the meetings.
Of the 55 members on the Energy and Commerce Committee this year, all but nine have received Facebook contributions in the past decade, USA Today reports.
The average Republican got $US6800, while the average Democrat got $US6750.
While much of the session is expected to focus on how the company uses and protects people’s personal data, US officials will also question Mr Zuckerberg on how Russia was able to pay for targeted advertisements to influence the US presidential election.
The question remains a subject of several congressional investigations and special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference.
In the statement, Mr Zuckerberg addresses Russian election interference and acknowledges, as he has in the past, that the company was too slow to respond and that it’s “working hard to get better”.
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The company has said that as many as 146 million people may have received information from a Russian agency that’s accused of orchestrating much of the cyber meddling in the election.
“We will continue working with the government to understand the full extent of Russian interference, and we will do our part not only to ensure the integrity of free and fair elections around the world, but also to give everyone a voice and to be a force for good in democracy everywhere,” Mr Zuckerberg’s statement says.
Do you think Zuckerberg will crack under pressure during his Congress hearings? Let us know in the comments!
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