Facebook is ‘working with investigation’
WASHINGTON — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said his company is working with special counsel Robert Mueller in the sweeping Russia investigation, during his first appearance before Congress on Tuesday over a data breach scandal.
Zuckerberg, during a fivehour grilling, told 44 United States senators that Facebook is working with Mueller’s team, but stressed that he wants to be careful because the “work with the special counsel is confidential”.
The congressional hearing came nearly a month after news broke that Cambridge Analytica, a data consulting firm with ties to President Donald Trump’s campaign, accessed information from as many as 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
Russian groups were alleged to have taken advantage of the social media platform to interfere with the 2016 US presidential election. Moscow denies such claims.
Facebook was “too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference”, Zuckerberg said. “It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm”.
“And that goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy,” the 33-year-old CEO added, in an apologetic tone, noting that Facebook plans to have more than 20,000 employees working in security and content review by the end of this year.
He also revealed that Facebook is developing artificial intelligence technology in order for hate speech to be “flagged upfront” in five or 10 years.
Facebook said it has dramatically restricted the amount of data that developers can access and proactively reviews the apps on its platform.
Seemingly unimpressed, Republican Senator John Thune said Zuckerberg’s company had a 14-year history of apologizing for “ill-advised decisions” related to user privacy. “How is today’s apology different?” Thune asked.
“We have made a lot of mistakes in running the company,” Zuckerberg conceded, and Facebook must ensure the tools it creates are used in “good and healthy” ways.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham asked Zuckerberg if he would be willing to work with lawmakers to examine what “regulations you think are necessary in your industry”.
Absolutely, Zuckerberg responded, saying later in an exchange with Republican Senator Dan Sullivan that “I’m not the type of person who thinks that all regulation is bad”.
The data controversy has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company’s stock value plunging, but Facebook shares surged 4.5 percent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.
Zuckerberg, who traded his usual gray T-shirt and jeans attire for a dark suit on Tuesday, was scheduled to appear on Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.