Zuckerberg to testify before house panel

Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg has agreed to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on April 11, the chairman and top Democrat on that committee announced yesterday.

“This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online,” said Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon, in a joint statement with ranking panel Democrat Frank Pallone of New Jersey.

“We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th,” they said.

Other congressional committees also are looking to hear from Facebook executives. Senate Judiciary Committee staffmembers did not immediately respond yesterday to whether Zuckerberg has agreed to adate to appear before that panel.

Zuckerberg has faced criticism from lawmakers in both parties after reports that Cambridge Analytica, a company working for Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016, harvested data from 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge.