Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces US lawmakers for second day

World Today

Facebook CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg testifies during a US House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing about Facebook on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, April 11, 2018. (AFP PHOTO: Saul Loeb)

Facebook Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg heard an onslaught of questions and criticism from U.S. lawmakers for his role in the sharing and misuse of user data.

CGTN’s Jim Spellman reports.

It was another day on Capitol Hill for Zuckerberg. with yet another apology.

“It’s clear now we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm, and that goes for fake news, elections interference and hate speech,” Zuckerberg admitted.

The social media giant is facing criticism after it was reported that data from as many as 87 million Facebook users was transferred, without consent, to Cambridge Analytica. It’s the British political consulting firm used by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Zuckerberg even revealed that his own data was part of the breech.

Lawmakers challenged the CEO to do more to protect user data, with Zuckerberg insisting users control their own data.

“Will you make the commitment to changing all their user default settings to minimize, to the greatest extent possible, the collection and use of user’s data? I don’t think that’s hard for you to say yes to, unless I’m missing something,” Democratic Representative for New Jersey, Frank Pallone asked.

“Congressman, this is a complex issue that I think deserves more than a one-word answer,” Zuckerberg said.

“Well, again, that’s disappointing to me,” Pallone responded.

Zuckerberg said Facebook is changing how data is handled, promising to place increased limits on what data developers can access and how that data is used.

Lawmakers hinted that if Facebook doesn’t do enough, Congress will step in. That’s something Zuckerberg admits is likely to happen.

“The Internet is growing in importance around the world and people’s lives. And I think that it is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation,” Zuckerberg acknowledged. “So my position is not that there should be no regulation. But I also think that you have to be careful about what regulation you put in place.”