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Zuckerberg grilled by Congress… and he apologized a lot
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was back on Capitol Hill today for another round of questioning by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, following Tuesday’s marathon five-hour Senate hearing.
During the hearing on Wednesday that went on for several hours, Zuckerberg was apologetic from the opening, in what has been described as the latest leg in the embattled CEO’s “I’m sorry” tour.
Congress gets a visit from planet Zuckerberg. “I shall prevent any further election meddling by destroying the Earth with my Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator App! The sudden drop in Facebook’s stock has made me angry! VERY ANGRY INDEED!!!” pic.twitter.com/qwCpJoUqnS
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) April 11, 2018
Saying “sorry” is nothing new for the 33-year-old billionaire, and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) used her time to read out a list of past apologies from Zuckerberg, mostly for privacy violations. After the exhaustive list, she concluded that “self-regulation simply does not work.”
Rep. Jan Schakowsky is now listing Mark Zuckerberg's various apologies and saying self-regulation has failed. This is beyond dispute now. The House has done a much better job than the Senate questioning Zuckerberg. #AskZuck
— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) April 11, 2018
#Zuckerberg That smell emanating from Zuck’s underside sitting atop his briefcase his ass being fried by Ms. Schakowsky of Illinois.
— Chris DeepintheWoods (@CentralOregon12) April 11, 2018
Zuckerberg was evasive when asked what Facebook does to safeguard user data, and he tried to conflate users controlling sharing their posts and Facebook giving those posts to advertisers. Time and time again, he fell back on the reliable “we don’t sell your data” line.
If there's one clear takeaway it's that Facebook sells my data
— Greg Bensinger (@GregBensinger) April 10, 2018
Zuckerberg keeps saying that you get to choose who you “share” any information with at the top of the app.
But *every time* you post, you do share that info with FB—who then rent it to advertisers. These are 2 different uses of “share” and MZ is skating on the difference.
— Robinson Meyer (@yayitsrob) April 11, 2018
Likewise, when asked about whether Facebook would be willing to change its business model to better protect user privacy, Zuckerberg said: “I’m not sure what that means.”
Congresswomen: Was your personal data sold to malicious third parties?
Zuckerberg: Yes.
Congresswomen: Are you willing to change your business model in the interest of protecting individual privacy?
Zuckerberg: Don't know what that means.
Fam.
