Facebook CEO says he’s sorry
Despite apology, Zuckerberg defends his company during lengthy Senate hearing
WASHINGTON — Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized early and often for his company’s mishandling of users’ data in his debut appearance before Congress on Tuesday, but strongly defended the company’s core business model of making money from the personal information its customers post on their accounts.
Zuckerberg issued several variations on his opening-statement mea culpa that Facebook hadn’t done enough to prevent the social network from being “used for harm.” He insisted, however, that there was no fundamental flaw in the way Facebook lets users limit the spread of their data.
After squirming for a moment before collecting himself, the 33-year-old Internet billionaire did confess to an extraordinary joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees that he would not want to share publicly the name of the hotel where he stayed the night before.
“Everyone should have control over how their information is used,” Zuckerberg said, responding to a question by
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who sought to frame the storm over the misuse of user data in terms personal to the Silicon Valley mogul.
But Zuckerberg added, “Every day people come to Facebook to share photos” and other information about their lives. “Every time they choose to share something, they have a control right there about who they want to share it with” — referring to privacy controls on the social media platform that allow users to determine whether their posts go to friends, or to friends of friends, or to the public at large.
Zuckerberg was called to Capitol Hill to respond to revelations that the Russian government used Facebook to try to disrupt the 2016 presidential election, and that the personal information of as many as 87 million Facebook users was accessed without their knowledge by a political firm that did work for Donald Trump’s campaign. The Facebook CEO found himself challenged by senators from both parties about whether the public can trust the company to patrol itself.
Both Republicans and Democrats clearly wrestled with how to oversee a social network whose more than 2 billion users worldwide make up a population larger than any country in the world. The tenor of deep skepticism over Facebook’s actions indicated that Washington’s hands-off approach to the company — and Silicon Valley generally — may be nearing an end.
“You have built an extraordinary American company ... some things you’ve been able to do are magical,” said Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “But our promised digital utopia, we have discovered, has minefields. There are some impurities in the Facebook punchbowl, and they’ve got to be fixed.”
Zuckerberg sought to avoid direct answers about whether he would submit to regulation similar to policies going into effect in the European Union to enforce users’ privacy and platforms’ transparency. He said he would be open to working with Congress on the issues, but said the “details matter.”
He frequently ducked on specifics, repeatedly saying his “team” would “follow up” with the senators.
Frustrated senators said Facebook has become more than just an innocent way to connect people, as Zuckerberg insisted remains the company’s intent, but instead a business model that exploits users’ personal data to sell ads.
“Let me cut to the chase,” said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.. “If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy anymore.”
Zuckerberg strongly defended Facebook’s advertising model, deflecting a question from Nelson about whether the company would charge a fee to users who do not allow the service to use their information to sell ads. The company’s chief operating officer, Sheryl Sandberg, said in a recent interview that Facebook has considered such a charge. But Zuckerberg said charging would go against its “mission” to reach as many people as possible.
He said most users choose to allow Facebook to use their information to target them with ads. “I think that’s a good level of control to offer,” Zuckerberg said.
As for making people pay for using Facebook without ad targeting, Zuckerberg said that without the money ads bring in, “we would still need some sort of business model.”
As for misuse of the service for terrorist plots, hate speech, foreign election interference or other unwelcome content, Zuckerberg said artificial intelligence would soon offer the ability to sort through billions of posts to flag potential problems. In the meantime, he touted a plan to hire 20,000 people to sort through the information to ensure such content is removed.
But that prompted sharp questions from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., who asked whether Facebook intends to become a political censor. He challenged Zuckerberg to say whether it claims to be a “neutral public forum” that can be regulated, or an entity protected under the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.
“Our goal is certainly not to engage in political speech,” Zuckerberg said. Asked later by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, if Facebook has become the world’s largest publisher, Zuckerberg sought a middle ground, saying he views it as a tech company.
“This is a really big question,” Zuckerberg said, making the distinction between being responsible for its content but not creating it.
Amateur Twitter comedians mistook some senators’ probing questions as technological ignorance. In a question that evoked much ribaldry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., asked, “Is Twitter the same as what you do?”
But Graham’s point — that Twitter is a different social media beast and not direct competition for Facebook — was no joking matter for Facebook. Monopolies are subject to antitrust law, and if Facebook lacks direct competitors, regulators can argue that antitrust rules should apply.
“You don’t think you have a monopoly?” Graham asked, noting that Facebook bought Instagram, along with WhatsApp and other companies edging into its territory.
“It certainly doesn’t feel like it to me,” Zuckerberg replied.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and strong ally of the tech industry, expressed amazement that anyone was “shocked” that Facebook makes money by leveraging its user base with advertisers. “Nothing in life is free,” Hatch said.
Hatch, leading Zuckerberg on, asked him, “How do you sustain a business model if users don’t pay?”
Zuckerberg, smiling, replied, “Senator, we run ads.”
The Facebook CEO returns to Capitol Hill Wednesday for a hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.