Zuckerberg testifies Cambridge Analytica got his personal data

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday where he faced a sometimes confrontational House Energy and Commerce Committee that challenged the tech executive’s positions on user privacy, political bias and regulation.

The rapid-fire inquiry contrasted with Zuckerberg’s more languid hearing Tuesday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, and Judiciary Committee.

“Facebook failed its customers,” Rep. Raul Ruiz, DPalm Desert, said about Facebook’s mishandling of user data in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. “We have a responsibility to figure out what went wrong here.”

When it was over, Zuckerberg offered little new information, other than revealing he was among the up to 87 million Facebook users who unwittingly had their personal information harvested by Cambridge Analytica. And there was little consensus as to whether Facebook needed to be regulated or left to police itself.

“We need your help here. I don’t want Congress to have to act,” said Rep. E.L. “Buddy” Carter, R-Ga. “Please.”

The 33-year-old billionaire repeatedly deployed the same tactics he used the previous day with members of the Senate.

When asked if he’d support a specific piece of regulation, Zuckerberg said he was open to exploring it. When pressed about how an open platform can stop more hate speech and fake accounts, he implored patience for the development of more artificial intelligence tools. And when confronted with details about the scope of Facebook’s data collection, he promised to get back to the committee.

“I will talk to my team and follow up,” Zuckerberg told Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., in response to heated questions about how much Facebook tracks internet users on other web sites.

Unlike the Senate, where members were allotted five minutes to question Zuckerberg, the House committee granted members four minutes. That gave Zuckerberg less time to meander and he was often interrupted by committee members determined to make their points before time ran out.

The committee also asked pointed questions about the spread of prescription painkillers on the social network.

“Your platform is still being used to circumvent the law and allow people to buy highly addictive drugs without a prescription,” said Rep. David McKinley, R-W.Va. “With all due respect, Facebook is actually enabling an illegal activity, and in so doing, you are hurting people. Would you agree with that statement?”

“I think that there are a number of areas of content that we need to do a better job policing on our service,” Zuckerberg responded.