Is EC listening? Mark will ensure Indian polls are fair

Zuckerberg tells US lawmakers his own data was compromised by Cambridge Analytica

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has told US lawmakers that he takes personal responsibility for the leak of data on tens of millions of its users, and assured the Senate that his company will do "everything" to ensure that the upcoming elections in India and other countries are safe."2018 is an incredibly important year for elections. Not just in the US mid-term, but, around the world, there are important elections -- in India, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan and Hungary -- and we want to make sure we do everything we can to protect the integrity of these elections," the Facebook founder and CEO said.

Zuckerberg said they had developed tools which identify people when they try to create fake accounts. "What we're going to do is to ask a valid government identity and we're going to verify the location. We are going to do that so that someone sitting in Russia, for example, couldn't say that they're in America and, therefore, able to run an election ad," he said.

Zuckerberg's testimony came after it was revealed in March that British firm Cambridge Analytica tied to US President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign improperly collected profile data of up to 87 million Facebook users.

Zuckerberg also told US lawmakers that his own personal data was among that of 87 million or so Facebook users that was improperly shared.

Lawmakers on both side of the aisle grilled Zuckerberg over his company’s handling of user data and were particularly focused on the platform’s privacy settings, which put the onus on users to protect their privacy.

Zuckerberg also came under fire for failing to explain the nature of Facebook and what sort of company it is. In reply, Zuckerberg said that Facebook is primarily a technology company and not a media company or a broadcaster or a financial institution. He was essentially trying to deflect the threat of regulation, which will come in case it is defined as a financial institution or a media company.

Zuckerberg, wearing a blue suit and tie, remained calm and respectful in answering the questions. One of the senators called Facebook a “virtual monopoly” and said “continued self-regulation is not the right answer when it comes to dealing with the abuses we have seen on Facebook.”

Zuckerberg, finally, admitted that regulation was “inevitable.” But he repeated that the right kind of regulation mattered and he pointed out that some regulation could only solidify the power of a large company like Facebook, which could hurt start-ups.