Congress Wants Answers From Facebook

Many details have yet to be hammered out, the people added, and Mr. Zuckerberg hasn’t formally accepted any requests for him to appear. In an interview with CNN last week, he said he would be open to testifying if he was the “right person” to do so.

Earlier this month, Facebook disclosed that information about tens of millions of its users was sold to data-analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which worked with the Trump campaign in 2016 and other Republican candidates.

The episode shed light on how little Facebook has invested in ensuring developers follow its rules. Selling user data violates Facebook policies., and Cambridge Analytica has said it followed Facebook’s policies.

On March 21, after days of silence on the matter, Mr. Zuckerberg announced a series of steps meant to rein in outsiders’ access to Facebook user data.

The news intensified political pressure on Facebook, which was already under fire for failing to detect Russian-backed manipulation of its platform and for allowing fabricated news articles, violent live videos and other forms of objectionable content spread across its services.

Congressional aides who were briefed by Facebook staffers last week said the meetings left some 60 questions unanswered. Facebook officials promised to answer them at a later date, including whether firms other than Cambridge Analytica mishandled user data.

Lawmakers also want to know whether there are more copies of underlying Facebook user data. Facebook officials have said it is possible but they aren’t sure. Mr. Zuckerberg, in a later interview with The Wall Street Journal, reiterated that Facebook would seek to identify bad actors but wouldn’t be able to uncover where all the data ended up and how it is being deployed.

On Monday, the Senate Judiciary Committee asked Mr. Zuckerberg to appear at an April 10 hearing on data privacy. Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) also invited Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Alphabet Inc.’s Google, and Twitter Inc. Chief Executive Jack Dorsey.

Last week, bipartisan leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation separately called on Mr. Zuckerberg to testify about Facebook’s privacy and data-use standards.

A congressional aide with knowledge of the matter said Mr. Zuckerberg is expected to testify in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month. Mr. Zuckerberg could appear in front of the other congressional committees as well, although other people familiar with the matter said the timing and logistics of Mr. Zuckerberg’s appearances are still being worked out.

A spokeswoman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee said it is working with Facebook “to determine a day and time for Mr. Zuckerberg to testify.” A representative for the Senate Judiciary Committee declined to comment beyond the announcement Monday. A spokesman for the Senate Commerce Committee couldn’t be immediately reached.

A Facebook spokesman reiterated Tuesday it had received and was reviewing U.S. lawmakers’ invitations. Twitter declined to comment Tuesday, and Google didn’t immediately respond. CNN earlier reported the news that Mr. Zuckerberg was coming to terms with the fact that he will need to testify.

Facebook’s shares extended their recent decline on Tuesday, falling 4.9% in a broader market drop. Facebook’s market value has dropped by more than $95 billion since March 16.

And shares in Twitter plunged Tuesday, ending down 11.4% after short-selling firm Citron Research said in a post on Twitter that it is the social media company most vulnerable to privacy regulation because of the way it sells user data. ​

“Twitter is public by its nature,” the social-media company tweeted, which makes data harvesting less controversial. Twitter also denied Citron’s claim that its data-licensing business sells users’ private messages.

The hearing is expected to place Mr. Zuckerberg in the kind of public, unpredictable spectacle that he has largely avoided. His public appearances, in town hall gatherings with Facebook users or students or during his tour of America last year, are often tightly scripted. When he acknowledges shortcomings or criticism of Facebook in such settings, often there isn’t time for follow-up questions.

“Much more so than the other companies in the hot seat, Facebook is strongly identified with a single, long-term leader,” said Daphne Keller, who studies platforms’ legal responsibilities at the Stanford Center for Internet and Society and previously was Google’s associate general counsel. “I’m sure Facebook is hoping that he can put a human face on the company and restore badly damaged trust.”

On Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg declined to appear before a U.K. parliamentary committee seeking evidence on how companies acquire user data from Facebook, choosing to send a deputy instead, according to a letter from Facebook published by the parliamentary committee. The letter said either Mike Schroepfer, Facebook’s chief technology officer, or Chris Cox, the chief product officer, would appear before the committee after the Easter parliamentary recess.

“Facebook fully recognizes the level of public and parliamentary interest in these issues and support your belief that these issues must be addressed at the most senior levels of the company by those in an authoritative position to answer your questions,” said Rebecca Stimson, head of public policy of Facebook UK, in a letter Monday. “As such Mr. Zuckerberg has personally asked one of his deputies to make themselves available to give evidence in person to the committee.”

Wall Street Journal

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