Zuckerberg hearing : Facebook CEO says firm is in 'arms race' with Russia and is working with Mueller election probe - as it happened
Data abuse scandal threatens to harm the social network forever
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Your support makes all the difference.Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced more than five hours of questions from the joint Senate Commerce and Judiciary committees over the privacy and the use of citizen's data..
The long-awaited showdown – one of the first times that Mr Zuckerberg has spoken publicly since a data scandal hit – saw nearly half the US Senate, 44 legislators, interrogate Mr about an issue that threatens to permanently damage the site he co-founded.
Mr Zuckerberg agreed to testify in Congress after revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a data-mining firm affiliated with Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was sold access to personal information from 87 million Facebook users. Cambridge Analytica denies any laws were broken
In his testimony, Mr Zuckerberg disclosed that his company is “working with” special counsel Robert Mueller in the federal probe of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign — and working hard to change its own policies.
“We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake," he said. "It was my mistake, and I'm sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here.”
Please allow a moment for the live blog to load.
Mr Zuckerberg apologised for his company's errors in failing to better protect the personal information of its millions of users, a controversy that has brought a flood of bad publicity and sent the company's stock value plunging. However, as he answered questions, Facebook shares surged and closed up 4.5 per cent for the day, the biggest gain in two years.
Mr Zuckerberg said it had been “clearly a mistake” to believe the data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had deleted user data that it had - although Analytica said on Tuesday that it had deleted all the data. Mr Zuckerberg said Facebook had considered the data collection “a closed case” because it thought the information had been discarded and therefor that is why it did not inform users when it became aware of the data use in 2015.
The Facebook founder said the company is going through “a broader philosophical shift in how we approach our responsibility.” He said the company needs to take a “more proactive role” that includes ensuring the tools it creates are used in “good and healthy” ways.
He denied that Facebook, which has more than two billion monthly users across the world, was a monopoly. “It certainly doesn't feel that way to me,” Mr Zuckerberg said.
The billionaire appeared mostly comfortable with the questioning, with some senators struggling with some aspects of the technology. Although Mr Zuckerberg was at points to point out repeatedly that Facebook "does not sell" advertising and that users "have full control" over the data they provide.
Asked about the prospect of regulation, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Mr Zuckerberg said that his company would back "the right regulation".
Mr Graham asked whether the company "would work" with Congress to craft that regulation, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied: “Absolutely.”
Agencies contributed to this report
Ms Feinstein is now asking questions, but just to return to one from Mr Thune, who asked about the ability to tackle hate speech.
Mr Zuckerberg discusses the use of artificial intelligence to catch such speech, and increased staffing for moderation.
“There’s a higher error rate than I’m happy with,” he says.
Ms Feinstein asks why Facebook did not ban Cambridge Analytica in 2015, and only after the reports about the data use came out last month.
Mr Zuckerberg said that the company was not using the service, such as pages at that time in 2015.
Mr Zuckerberg said that most people don't read long-winded privacy policies. He's right.
A study from 2016 found that 98 per cent of people didn't bother reading a privacy policy for a fake social network. The policy asked users for their consent to hand all of their private information over to the NSA, as well as give up their first born child.
Here is the live broadcast of the the hearing with Mr Zuckerberg (please allow a few seconds for it to load):
Mr Zuckerberg claims he has not heard of Total Information Awareness - a pervasive surveillance program set up by the US government in 2003 - though many on social media are calling his bluff.
Mr Zuckerberg says that some from Facebook have been interviewed by investigators from Special Consul Robert Mueller's Russia probe, but he has not.
He says the company are working with the Mueller inquiry into Russian election meddling
Senator Leahy asked Mr Zuckerberg if anyone at Facebook has been interviewed by Mr Mueller's Special Counsel. The Facebook co-founder says some of his employees have been approached but refuses to say which ones, in the interest of privacy. How funny.
Something I didn't have time to flag earlier, during her questioning, Maria Cantwell got Mr Zuckerberg to commit to finding out whether Facebook employees worked directly with Cambridge Analytica employees during the Trump campaign.
Mr Zuckerberg just made a bold claim that Facebook is not a monopoly.
"You don't think you have a monopoly?" a Senator asks.
"It certainly doesn't feel like that to me," Mr Zuckerberg replies.
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