Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
EU lawmakers grill Zuckerberg
New regulations for Facebook floated as reply to scandals
TONY ROMM
European lawmakers pilloried Mark Zuckerberg at a hearing Tuesday for Facebook’s recent privacy and misinformation mishaps and raised the possibility of new regulation, a more realistic threat than what the social media giant faces in the United States.
The tough questions from political leaders in the European Parliament reflected growing unease in Brussels about Facebook’s ability to protect its users’ personal information and fight fake news, terrorist propaganda and other malicious content on its platform. At one point, policymakers told Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, that the company had become so large, powerful and out of control that it should be investigated and broken up.
Opening the meeting, the president of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, described as an “alarming scandal” that Facebook had allowed Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy, to access the names, “likes” and other personal information for 87 million of the site’s users.
“The price paid by the users is, in many cases, data in exchange for free services,” Tajani said. “However, democracy should never become a marketing operation where anyone who buys that data buys a political advantage.”
In response, Zuckerberg apologized to European lawmakers, much as he had done during his testimony to the U. S. Congress during two hearings in April. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of
our responsibility, and that was a mistake. And I’m sorry for it,” he said.
But some European policymakers did not appear to be swayed by Zuckerberg’s entreaties. One member of Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, lamented that Facebook already had apologized for its missteps “15 or 16 times the last decade.”
Zuckerberg’s face-off with Parliament marked his toughest confrontation with regulators to date. European lawmakers hammered the executive with more incisive questions than during his congressional hearings last month.
By design, though, Zuckerberg answered all lawmakers’ questions at once at the end of the hearing. That setup appeared to irk many lawmakers, who felt it afforded Zuckerberg an opportunity to dodge their toughest queries.
As a result, Tajani said, lawmakers would press the Facebook chief executive to address follow-ups in writing soon. The European Parliament also
plans to convene another hearing with Facebook and fellow tech companies to discuss more technical issues.
“Mr. Zuckerberg’s apologies are not enough,” Tajani said at a later news conference. “We are looking for further commitments… and we will be looking forward to getting his written answers on Cambridge Analytica. It’s obvious that kind of thing should not happen again.”
Other lawmakers repeatedly wondered whether they should pursue new regulation targeting the company.
“Your company today already has tremendous power,” said Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party in Parliament. Noting his belief that Facebook should be investigated as a potential monopoly, he asked Zuckerberg: “Can you convince me not to do so?”
“From where I sit it feels like there are new competitors every day,” Zuckerberg later replied, “and we’re constantly needing to evolve our service to stay relevant and serve people well.”
The grilling came three days before Europe is set to
start enforcing new privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation. The law requires companies to provide more information to consumers about the data they collect and offer consumers greater ability to opt out of that collection — or face stiff penalties.
“With the Facebook hearing, the Parliament is sending a clear message that enforcement of the new European data protection law will be a top priority,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington group that has advocated investigations into the company’s privacy practices.
Historically, the EU has been much tougher than the United States when it comes to policing Facebook and its Silicon Valley peers. During the past year alone, European authorities have fined Google for threatening competitors and penalized Apple for its tax practices. The EU issued a $122 million fine against Facebook for misleading regulators over the way it handled data after acquiring the messaging service WhatsApp.