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Facebook Inc. Chief Executive answers on Monday the lawmaker’s questions about the Facebook network role played in the U.S. 2016 election.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
Zuckerberg left his hoodie sweatshirt at home today in the morning and dressed in a black suit headed to Capitol Hill to meet the Senate Commerce Committees.
Senator Bill Nelson, the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee was Zuckerberg first meeting followed by Senator John Thune, the Commerce Committee’s Republican chairman.
The personal information of up to 87 million users, mostly in the United States, shared improperly with London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica is Facebook’s admission in the forthcoming hearings at the Congressional committees. But the lawmakers expected to press him on a range of issues, including the 2016 election.
“It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm...” Zuckerberg testimony continued. “That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy.”
Facebook plans to begin telling to its 2.1 billion monthly active users whose data may have been shared with Cambridge Analytica, which has disputed Facebook’s estimate of the number of affected users.
“Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits,” Zuckerberg’s said in his testimony.
Facebook is among other Silicon Valley companies has been resistant to new laws governing its business, but on Friday it backed proposed legislation requiring social media sites to disclose the identities of buyers of online political campaign ads and introduced a new verification process for people buying “issue” ads, which do not endorse any candidate but have been used to exploit divisive subjects such as gun laws or police shootings.
The steps are designed to deter online information warfare and elections meddling that the U.S. authority have accused Russia of pursuing, Zuckerberg said on Friday.
Zuckerberg’s testimony said the company was “too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference, and we’re working hard to get better.”
He vowed to make improvements, adding it would take time, but said he was “committed to getting it right.”
Zuckerberg's testimony has been prepared by a law firm team consultants hired by the Facebook Inc. to help prepare the answers to the lawmaker’s questions.
