Zuckerberg faces pressure to testify on data breaches
POLITICIANS from Brazil, Singapore and Latvia have joined calls for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to stand before an international grand committee to testify on fake news and the handling of data breaches that have affected millions of people.
International pressure has been growing on the Facebook founder to answer to politicians over data gathering, alleged Russian interference on elections and confidentiality breaches that have engulfed the company.
A letter signed by eight parliaments, including Britain’s, stated: “There are important issues to be discussed and you are the appropriate person to answer them.”
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee at Westminster joined politicians from Australia, Argentina, Ireland and Canada as well as the three new signatories from Brazil, Singapore and Latvia.
The campaign is likely to complicate the task facing Sir Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister, who Facebook appointed last month to head up its global policy operation. He has since been given the task of reviewing Facebook’s lobbying efforts after a backlash over its tactics.
Mr Zuckerberg had until midnight last night to respond. If he agreed to attend in person or via a video link, MPS would convene on Nov 7 to question him. Facebook declined to make any comment.
The company has already been questioned over how much it knew about Russian attempts to spread misinformation during the US presidential election in 2016 when hackers allegedly paid for fake adverts on Facebook to spread misleading stories and divide voters.
According to a report in The New York Times, Facebook knew about Russian attempts to influence Facebook users even earlier than it had previously admitted, raising fresh concerns.
This is just the latest attempt to bring Mr Zuckerberg before politicians after multiple refusals. Last week, Rebecca Stimson, Facebook’s head of UK public policy, said he was “not able to be in London on November 27”.
Politicians want Facebook to answer questions about its handling of election interference and of data gathering by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Damian Collins, chairman of the select committee, said last week that Facebook had been disingenuous in its responses so far.
It came as the firm went on the offensive against rivals that had called for it to be broken up. It hired a Washington-based public relations firm to investigate figures such as George Soros and encourage journalists to look into his financial links to anti-facebook organisations. Mr Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, his chief operating officer, were criticised over the move.
Vikas Shah, a business management expert at MIT Sloan business school, said Facebook needed to “take responsibility and accountability in appropriately high level Q&AS and hearings”. “It is absolutely right he should go in front of those,” he said, adding: “The victim mantra feels false.”