Facebook’s data-sharing with Chinese firms roils lawmakers
FACEBOOK is coming under fire from top US lawmakers with the clout to regulate the social media powerhouse after the company revealed it had data- sharing partnerships with four Chinese consumer- device makers, including Huawei Technologies Co.
The leaders of the House and Senate commerce panels have chastised Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg for keeping silent about the partnerships when asked at hearings in April about third parties that might be receiving users’ personal data from the company. Facebook also has missed a deadline to respond to follow-up questions from the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, even after receiving an extension, Chairman John Thune said.
“All of this new information and new reporting I think raises even more questions,” Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said at the Capitol. “And they haven’t responded to the questions that we posed after the last hearings. So they have some explaining to
Clearly, the company’s partnerships with Chinese technology companies and others should have been disclosed before Congress and the American people. Statement by Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon with the panel’s top Democrat, Frank Pallone of New Jersey
do.”
Facebook said in a statement that it plans to respond to questions from the Senate by the end of the week. “We are working right now to provide substantive answers to the over 2,000 questions we received coming out of the April hearings,” according to the statement.
This week, Facebook confi rmed the partnerships with four Chinese consumer- device makers after the New York Times reported about them. A top executive said that the company was careful with the information provided through the partnerships, which were designed to help smartphone makers build custom versions of Facebook’s app.
“Facebook’s integrations with Huawei, Lenovo, OPPO and TCL were controlled from the get go - - and we approved the Facebook experiences these companies built,” Francisco Varela, the company’s vice president of mobile partnerships, said in a statement. “Given the interest from Congress, we wanted to make clear that all the information from these integrations with Huawei was stored on the device, not on Huawei’s servers.”
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he saw a “a serious danger” that Facebook shared user information with Chinese device makers.
Thune and Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, the Commerce panel’s top Democrat, asked Zuckerberg in a letter if he wants to now amend his April testimony that Facebook users have “complete control” over who sees their data and how it is shared.
In light of the new report about partnerships with Chinese companies, they also asked a series of new questions, including how data that is shared is stored and whether users or the Federal Trade Commission were ever aware of the datasharing agreement.
“At our hearing with CEO Mark Zuckerberg, bipartisan members of the committee asked direct questions about Facebook sharing personal data with third parties,” Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon said in a joint statement with the panel’s top Democrat, Frank Pallone of New Jersey. “Clearly, the company’s partnerships with Chinese technology companies and others should have been disclosed before Congress and the American people,” they said.