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.”
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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
Investors are rallying around Facebook as CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears before Congress to answer questions about the social media giant's recent privacy scandal.
Facebook shares rose 4.5 percent to $165.04, their biggest percentage gain in almost two years.
About half the gain came early in the day as the broader market surged on signs of an easing in trade tensions between the US and China. Facebook shares gained further as Zuckerberg took questions from senators seeking an explanation for how Facebook failed to prevent a data-mining company from gathering personal information on 87 million users and whether the company does enough to protect users' data.
Facebook shares are still down about 11 percent since the scandal broke last month due to concerns about stricter regulation of social media companies.
Senator Jeff Flake asks: "Do you believe Russia or China have harvested Facebook data and have profiles on users?"
Mr Zuckerberg: "We have kicked off an investigation... I imagine we’ll find some things.” He said that Facebook does not have specific knowledge of efforts by other nation states abusing the system, but that may change.
Mr Zuckerberg has suggested, as he has many times before, that artificial intelligence is the answer when dealing with problematic and harmful content on the platform.
Some Silicon Valley luminaries have warned about Facebook's development of AI, with billionaire polymath Elon Musk previously stating that Mr Zuckerberg doesn't fully understand the implications of the technology.
He stated last year: "I've talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited."
Senator Mazie Hirono asks about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its interest in using social media data to profile immigrants. This all comes as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration.
She asks: "Does Facebook intent to cooperate with this ‘extreme vetting’ process to help ICE target people for deportation?
Mr Zuckerberg says that Facebook would not proactively cooperate with Ice, but does comply with legal requests for information.
Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, asks: “Do you think Facebook is too powerful?”
Mr Zuckerberg: “We need to have a conversation about the right regulation.”
Mr Sullivan: “Regulation can cement the dominant power... One of my biggest concerns is that the next Facebook, the guy in the dorm, that you are becoming so dominant that we won’t be able to have the next Facebook.”
And following on:
Mr Sullivan: "Which are you? Are you a tech company? Or are you the world’s largest publisher?"
Zuckerberg: "I view us as a tech company... I agree that we’re responsible for the content, but we don’t produce the content."
He says that being responsible for content does not necessarily mean they are a publisher.
Cambridge Analytica, the UK data firm at the centre of this data abuse scandal, has been tweeting throughout this hearing.
Whoever is in charge of the firm's social media account is going hard on the defensive.
Senator Ted Cruz didn't once mention Cambridge Analytica during his five minutes of questions to Mr Zuckerberg.
This perhaps isn't surprising, considering Mr Cruz has had previous dealings with the UK firm.
According to campaign funding hub Open Secrets, Mr Cruz's campaign made 19 payments to Cambridge Analytica in 2016 totaling nearly $6 million.
Senator Jerry Moran asks about how 87m users had their data shared in the recent data scandal when only 300,000 people actively consented - does that not violate the consent order?
Mr Zuckerberg: "Our view is that we didn’t violate the consent order. The way that the app worked is how we explained that it worked. The system worked as it was designed, the issue is that we designed the system in a way that wasn’t good".
Mr Moran: "You’re not suggesting that the friends consented?"
Mr Zuckerberg said that it was clear how the system worked and so consent was given.
Senator Dean Heller, a Republican from Nevada, says his daughter and six of his staff were among the 87m people who received a message from Facebook about their data yesterday.
"How long do you keep a users data after they have deleted their account?" Mr Heller asks.
Mr Zuckerberg says he doesn't have the answer, but they try to act "as quickly as possible".
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