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Breaking: Senator Demands Zuckerberg Appear, Testify Under Oath

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Amid the controversy surrounding reports that research firm Cambridge Analytica accessed the private data of tens of millions of Facebook users, a Democrat senator has demanded that Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testify before Congress.

On Wednesday, Zuckerberg shared a status update admitting that Facebook “made mistakes” by not preventing the firm — which had ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign — from accessing about 50 million users’ information without their knowledge.

But Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Ed Markey needed more than just a written apology posted to Facebook.

“You need to come to Congress and testify to this under oath,” Markey wrote in reply to Zuckerberg’s post.

You need to come to Congress and testify to this under oath.

Posted by Senator Edward J. Markey on Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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For his part, Zuckerberg promised Wednesday that Facebook would renew its efforts to protect private data and heal the “breach of trust” that has formed between the social media giant and its billions of users.

“We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you,” he wrote. “I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

In an interview with CNN, Zuckerberg said he would be “happy” to testify before Congress.

“The short answer is I’m happy to if it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

“What we try to do is send the person at Facebook who will have the most knowledge,” Zuckerberg stated. “If that’s me, then I am happy to go.”

In addition to Zuckerberg’s apology, Facebook officials are set to appear before lawmakers to brief them on the social network’s data practices, as well as the nature of its relationship with Cambridge Analytica, The Hill reported.

Do you want to see Mark Zuckerberg testify before Congress?

During a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC, Markey explained why he thinks it’s necessary for Zuckerberg to testify.

“It’s time for Mark Zuckerberg to come to Congress and testify as to what the privacy protections are that Facebook has on the books and how this happened,” he stated. “How did Cambridge Analytica break through this world of social media that we have in our country and grab 50 million Americans’ private information?”

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“We need to know the answers for that from Mark Zuckerberg, himself,” Markey added.

Moreover, in addition to echoing their colleague’s call for Zuckerberg to testify, Democrat Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Mark Warner of Virginia are pushing legislation referred to as the Honest Ads Act.

This would force internet platforms like Facebook and Google to follow the same political ad transparency standards as traditional mediums. 

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Joe Setyon was a deputy managing editor for The Western Journal who had spent his entire professional career in editing and reporting. He previously worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine.
Joe Setyon was deputy managing editor for The Western Journal with several years of copy editing and reporting experience. He graduated with a degree in communication studies from Grove City College, where he served as managing editor of the student-run newspaper. Joe previously worked as an assistant editor/reporter for Reason magazine, a libertarian publication in Washington, D.C., where he covered politics and wrote about government waste and abuse.
Birthplace
Brooklyn, New York
Topics of Expertise
Sports, Politics




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