Facebook chief to face tough questions from EU legislators
Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Facebook, responds to questions during a 10-hour long testimony on Capitol Hill recently. He is expected to stick to what has become a well-used script when he appears before European lawmakers in Brussels. PHOTO | AFP
Washington. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg was expected to answer tough questions late yesterday from European policymakers who are investigating the social network’s recent privacy mishaps – and they could seek to make an example out of the company as the region’s new data-protection rules come into effect.
The meeting in Brussels with leaders of the European Parliament marks the latest round of intense scrutiny for Zuckerberg in response to the tech giant’s entanglement with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that improperly accessed 87 million Facebook users’ names, “likes” and other personal information. During the meeting, which will be streamed online, European lawmakers are expected to press Zuckerberg to detail the data that Facebook collects about its users and the ways that information, once in the hands of Cambridge Analytica or others, might have been used to sow social unrest or influence political outcomes -- including a British vote in 2016 to leave the European Union.
Zuckerberg is expected to apologize, much as he did during his testimony in the US Congress in April. “Whether it’s fake news, foreign interference in elections or developers misusing people’s information, we didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibilities. That was a mistake, and I’m sorry,” he plans to say, according to prepared remarks.
Yet Zuckerberg’s face-off with Parliament comes three days before the region is set to start enforcing new privacy rules, called the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. In effect, the law requires companies to provide more information to consumers about the data they collect and offer consumers greater ability to opt-out of that collection -- or face stiff penalties if they fail to meet the mark. Experts anticipate that members of the European Parliament might use the opportunity to brandish their soon-to-be new powers. “With the Facebook hearing, the Parliament is sending a clear message that enforcement of the new European data protection law will be a top priority,” said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington, DC-based group that has advocated for investigations into the company’s privacy practices. (Washington Post)
