Facebook testimony to Congress fills 454 pages

In a pair of letters to lawmakers, company replies to more than 2,000 questions

With many schools in the area already out for summer break, and parents looking for things to keep their kids busy during the day, finding something for children to read could be the way to reduce the amount of time they spend staring at TVs, tablets or other electronic screens.

So, if you are looking for something new for your son or daughter to read, the U.S. Congress has you covered with… 454 pages of written answers from Facebook, that are in response to many of the questions Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced during his testimony before Congress back in April.

The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation late Monday each released separate letters in which Facebook said it received more than 2,000 questions from Congress that included queries sent to the company before Zuckerberg’s testimony. Facebook used the two letters, dated June 8, to answer and expand upon the lawmakers’ questions, many of which dealt with matters such as how Facebook collected and shared data from its users, and methods the company took to ensure the privacy of its users.

The testimony stemmed from the Cambridge Analytica debacle, in which the one-time digital consult-

ing company improperly accessed the personal information of at least 87 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica also had ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, which raised concerns about how digital ads and information were targeted toward potential voters during the election campaign two years ago.

Cambridge Analytica ceased operations on May 1.

If anyone wants to read all of the Facebook’s responses, the letters can be found on the Senate Judiciary Committee website and can be downloaded. (Scroll to the bottom of the page and look under “Related Files”). With 454 pages of reading, there ought to be something there to keep your kids quiet for a while.