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Zuckerberg Refuses UK Parliament Summons Over Facebook Data Misuse, Agrees To Testify Before Congress (techcrunch.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the come-to-terms-with dept.

PolygamousRanchKid shares a report from TechCrunch: So much for "We are accountable"; Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has declined a summons from a UK parliamentary committee that's investigating how social media data is being used, and -- as recent revelations suggest misused -- for political ad targeting. The DCMS committee wrote to Zuckerberg on March 20 -- following newspaper reports based on interviews with a former employee of UK political consultancy, Cambridge Analytica, who revealed the company obtained Facebook data on 50 million users -- calling for him to give oral evidence. Facebook's policy staff, Simon Milner, previously told the committee the consultancy did not have Facebook data. In a statement a Facebook spokesperson said it will be offering its CTO or chief product officer to answer questions. Today, CNN reports that Mark Zuckerberg has decided to testify before Congress within a matter of weeks, and Facebook is currently planning the strategy for his testimony. "The Facebook sources believe Zuckerberg's willingness to testify will also put pressure on Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to do the same," reports CNN. "Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley has officially invited all three CEOs to a hearing on data privacy on April 10. That means Washington, not London, will be the stage for the trial of big tech."

4 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. I don't blame the little weasel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The UK is a frightening police state where they imprison people over pet videos.

    1. Re:I don't blame the little weasel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Nobody has been imprisoned in the UK over a pet video. Please stop spreading this particular fake news meme.

      (In the first place, it's Scotland - completely different legal system. In the second place, he hasn't been imprisoned.)

  2. Re:sound and fury signifying nothing by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 3, Informative

    Photo op for politicians. No laws were broken, at least no one has cited one law that was broken. .

    https://www.gov.uk/data-protec...

    The UK Data Protection Act. 1998.
    That's the law that was broken.

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  3. Re:Cuts both Ways by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Dublin isn't in the UK either.