Zuckerberg to testify to Congress, snubs U.K.

WASHINGTON• Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will appear before Congress but not the U.K. Parliament, in a move that has outraged British MPs.

The Facebook chief executive has been under pressure to appear on Capitol Hill and Westminster as Facebook confronts a controversy over data privacy after Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, improperly harvested the data of 50 million Facebook users. The revelations have sparked a furor on both sides of the Atlantic, with regulators in Britain and the United States calling for Zuckerberg to explain himself.

Last week British MPs summoned Zuckerberg to give evidence, but on Tuesday he offered one of two executives to instead appear before the digital, culture, media and sport select committee to answer questions.

“Facebook fully recognizes the level of public and parliamentary interest in these issues and support your belief that these issues must be addressed at the most senior levels of the company by those in an authoritative position to answer your questions,” Facebook U.K.’s policy chief Rebecca Stimson wrote.

“As such Mr. Zuckerberg has personally asked one of his deputies to make themselves available to give evidence in person to the committee.”

Damian Collins, the chairman of the committee, called the snub “absolutely astonishing” and said he would press Zuckerberg again to give evidence. The committee heard Tuesday from Christopher Wylie, the whistleblower who worked at Cambridge Analytica.

Meanwhile in Washington, Zuckerberg has agreed to testify in at least one congressional hearing over the scandal, The New York Times reported, citing people familiar with the decision.

Zuckerberg plans to testify in April before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the arrangements were not public. He has also been asked to testify before other congressional committees, including the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees.

Zuckerberg initially resisted speaking to Congress, and had asked if a senior Facebook executive could be sent to represent the company in his name, two Facebook employees familiar with the conversations said. They said Zuckerberg had been persuaded that he needed to appear in person after the news of the last week and a public outcry over Facebook’s data and privacy settings.