Technology

‘‘In order for us to make decisions about libra, I think we need to kind of dig into your past behaviour and Facebook’s past behaviour with respect to our democracy.’’ Ouch.

The above is a quote from the Democrat lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as she questioned Facebook chief executive and founder Mark Zuckerberg at this week’s hearing in front of the United States House of Representatives financial services committee. The purpose of the hearing? To discuss Facebook’s new cryptocurrency project, libra.

If you haven’t watched the 5-minute YouTube clip of Ocasio-Cortez grilling the Facebook boss, you really should.

Ocasio-Cortez unleashed a barrage of questions that exposes Mark Zuckerberg’s poor handling of the 2016 US presidential election. It focused on his dismal handling of Cambridge Analytica scandal and exposed Facebook’s lack of acceptable reform, with regards to political advertising, since 2016.

For Zuckerberg, this was a huge PR own goal, albeit an unavoidable one this time. Previously he’s dodged parliamentary hearings (in Britain for example) presumably because he knew what was about to come.

Ocasio-Cortez’s relentless attack hit Zuckerberg with question after question. She interrupted at the slightest sign of filibustering, forcing Zuckerberg to admit something we already knew. He has not been a responsible chief executive these past few years.

Zuckerberg admitted he probably knew of

Is this the sort of leadership we want from someone looking to launch a digital currency that could one-day replace traditional government-back currencies?