Zuckerberg to testify before Congress
FACEBOOK CEO WILL NOT APPEAR BEFORE A BRITISH PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE OVER DATA PRIVACY SCANDAL
Facebook is in talks with lawmakers about having its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, testify before Congress about the social network’s handling of user data.
The company is in contact with all three congressional committees that have requested testimony from Zuckerberg: the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee, a Facebook spokesperson said.
The company declined to confirm a CNN report Tuesday that Zuckerberg had made up his mind and agreed to testify about how personal information from 50 million unsuspecting Facebook users ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked on the Trump campaign.
Zuckerberg will not appear before a British parliamentary committee on misinformation and social media, choosing instead to send one of his deputies, the company said Tuesday.
An appearance by the 33-year-old billionaire before Congress would signal the company is bowing to pressure at home amid arguably the most serious crisis in its 14-year history.
The Federal Trade Commission confirmed Monday it was investigating the social media giant to determine whether it had violated a consent order to disclose uses of customers’ data. On the same day, 37 attorneys general, including California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, sent a letter to Facebook asking about the company’s data policies and its role in the Cambridge Analytica controversy.
Facebook is also facing a backlash from consumers, highlighted by the #deletefacebook hashtag. The company is now scrambling to win back trust from its more than 2 billion users worldwide.
The scrutiny could amount to a national reckoning about the future of social media and its advertising-based business model that requires collecting evermore intrusive personal data to thrive.
“Congress is worried about the Pandora’s box of social media, and they want to be seen doing something,” said Betsy Sigman, a professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. “Their constituents are nervous about their privacy and the impact social media could have on their privacy and their kids’ privacy.”
By facing Congress, Zuckerberg can show Facebook is serious about privacy — a gesture that could tamp down outrage, Sigman said.
“Facebook made almost $40 billion (Dh146 billion) in advertising revenue in 2017,” Sigman said. “This revenue is made partly because they can target people they have collected data on.”