Facebook chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg reiterated his disappointment at the recent scandal during a visit to several top lawmakers in Washington on Monday.
Zuckerberg apologised for the social network's misuse of its members' data ahead of the congressional hearings.
"We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," Zuckerberg said in written remarks released by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Monday. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry."
Congress is likely to introduce new regulations to guide Facebook if Zuckerberg doesn't provide satisfactory answers this week. The company has already said it favours new legislation that would make social networks such as Facebook disclose who is behind political advertisements featured on these platforms.
On Monday, Zuckerberg, dressed in a dark suit and tie, met Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida and a Senate Commerce Committee, where he discussed Russia’s interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. Russian agents reportedly used Facebook to spread messages to the American electorate.
“I think he’s trying,” Nelson said of Zuckerberg, “but I think if we don’t get our arms around this, none of us is going to have any privacy anymore.”
Facebook estimates that information of up to 87 million people, mostly residing in the US, has been improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy firm based in the UK.
Cambridge Analytica has disputed these numbers.
Zuckerberg is set to testify in front of at least two congressional committees this week. The Facebook CEO will appear in front of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees on Tuesday, April 10 and he willhead over to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday, April 11.
This might just be the beginning of Facebook's troubles, and it would be interesting to see how Zuckerberg and his team weather the storm.
David Lammy
