ZUCKERBERG TO FACE ANGRY LAWMAKERS AS FACEBOOK FIRESTORM RAGES
WASHINGTON - Amid a firestorm over Facebook's data privacy scandal, Mark Zuckerberg appears before US lawmakers this week with mounting pressure for new regulations for social media platforms.
The 33-year-old chief executive is expected to face a grilling before a Senate panel tomorrow and follow up with an appearance in the House of Representatives the following day.
His appearance comes amid a raft of inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic following disclosures that data on 87 million users was hijacked and improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy working for Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
Lawmakers have signalled they intend to get tough on Facebook and other online services over privacy.
"A day of reckoning is coming for websites like @facebook," Democratic Senator Ed Markey wrote on Twitter on Friday.
"We need a privacy bill of rights that all Americans can rely upon."
Representative Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, agreed that legislation is needed "to protect Americans' dignity and privacy from bad faith actors like Cambridge Analytica, who use social media data to manipulate people."
Several lawmakers and activists believe the United States should follow the lead of Europe's data protection law set to be implemented in May, which has strict terms for notification and sharing of personal data online.