Facebook problems are ‘my mistake, and I’m sorry’, Mark Zuckerberg tells US Congress
In wake of data scandal, social media giant’s chairman is set to testify for the first time on Capitol Hill
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that all of the company’s problems are his mistake, in prepared testimony for the US House of Representatives.
The world’s largest social media company didn’t do enough to prevent its tools from being used for harm, especially in terms of fake news, foreign interference in elections, hate speech, developer policies and data privacy, said Zuckerberg, Facebook’s co-founder.
“It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” Zuckerberg added, according to a copy of the prepared testimony ahead of his appearance in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. “I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
The committee released his opening testimony Monday, even as Zuckerberg was meeting privately with lawmakers ahead of his first time testifying on Capitol Hill.
Zuckerberg will also testify in the Senate on Tuesday about the company’s continuing data-privacy scandal, the worst privacy crisis in Facebook’s history, and how it failed to guard against other abuses of its service. He is also expected to be asked about Russia’s use of social media during the 2016 US election.