Ireland signs letter telling Zuckerberg to ‘come and talk’
IRELAND has joined forces with British and Canadian politicians in summoning Mark Zuckerberg to an ‘international grand committee’ to be held to account for Facebook’s failures.
The Facebook chief is understood to have declined a recent invitation from British and Canadian parliamentarians to appear before a special hearing at Westminster this month.
However, it is understood a second invitation is set to be issued to Mr Zuckerberg today, demanding his appearance at a November 27 meeting and it has been confirmed that Ireland will act as one of the co-signatures and will attend the meeting.
The committee is being held to scrutinise digital policy and for Facebook to ‘give an accurate account of recent failures of process, including the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal and subsequent data breaches.’ A draft piece of correspondence which the UK Request: Mark Zuckerberg House of Commons committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport plans to issue to Mr Zuckerberg was circulated to the Oireachtas communications committee yesterday.
The committee members were told the chairman of the UK Committee, Damian Collins MP, was looking for the committee to ‘act as a co-signature to this correspondence and has also invited the chair of the committee to attend the meeting’.
It has been confirmed the Oireachtas communications committee agreed to sign the letter and its chair, Fine Gael TD Hildegarde Naughton, plans to attend the meeting in London. It is believed she will be joined by Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, and there may be an opportunity for the Irish delegation to put questions to Mr Zuckerberg should he attend.
It is understood the invitation to Mr Zuckerberg for the grand committee is set to be reissued today and they are demanding a response by November 12. The Parliamentary committees have sought the support of a number of other countries as well as Ireland, such as Argentina and Australia.
The draft letter states that Mr Zuckerberg would be able to see from the list of signatories that the so-called ‘grand committee’ is ‘growing’ and that those other parliaments are ‘now calling on you to do the right thing by your users in the countries they represent’.
The signatories to the draft letter are also set to point to Mr Zuckerberg’s appearance before committees at the US Congress and Senate and the European Parliament previously, and as the chairs of their national parliamentary committees, they believed he owes Facebook users in their countries the ‘same line of accountability’.
‘We call on you once again to take up your responsibility to Facebook users, and to speak in person to their elected representatives,’ the draft letter, seen by the Mail, reads.
Meanwhile, Facebook Ireland was represented before an Oireachtas communications committee meeting yesterday by head of public policy, Niamh Sweeney, to discuss the establishment of a Digital Safety Commissioner here.
The social media giants have consistently said they understand the ‘motivation’ for one, but have concerns how it would impact upon freedom of expression and the definition of harmful content in the Bill. When asked if digital companies should contribute to the cost of the office of a regulator Ms Sweeney said she anticipated that would draw some ‘criticism’. emmajane.hade@dailymail.ie
‘We call on you once again’