Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg bobbed, weaved, and dodged several questions at Tuesday’s Senate hearing about whether his company should face new laws or regulations and, in the end, escaped without hearing any senator promise imminent action.
Zuckerberg appeared amid worries that his company failed to protect the personal data of 87 million people, conservative complaints that Facebook is censoring right-leaning press, and liberal complaints that he was too slow to stop Russia from using Facebook to sway the 2016 election. But when pressed on whether Washington should have a say in how his company operates, Zuckerberg gave the senators the slip.
[9 key moments from Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony on Capitol Hill]
About halfway through the hearing, Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, asked if perhaps Zuckerberg was “too powerful.”
“Is Facebook too powerful? Are you too powerful? Do you think you’re too powerful?” Sullivan asked. But Zuckerberg dodged with a non sequitur.
“I think most of the time when people talk about our scale, they’re referencing that we have 2 billion people in our community,” Zuckerberg answered. “And I think one of the big questions that we need to think through here is the vast majority of those 2 billion people are outside the U.S. And I think that that’s something, to your point, Americans should be proud of.”
Unsatisfied, Sullivan warned that when companies get too powerful, Washington tends to do something about it.
“When companies become big and powerful […] what typically happens from this body is there’s an instinct to either regulate or break up. Do you have any thoughts on those two policy approaches?” Sullivan asked.
Zuckerberg evaded again by saying, generally, he’s “not the kind of person who thinks that all regulations are bad.” Earlier, he told Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., that he was willing to submit regulations his company would be OK with, but had no further specifics.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., was more direct and hinted that Zuckerberg’s company needs to resolve its data privacy problem soon, or risk Washington action.
“Let me just cut to the chase,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., said to open the hearing. “If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are gonna have privacy anymore. That’s what we’re facing.”
Zuckerberg met these sorts of comments by repeating his pledge to solve the problem, which was exposed when up to 87 million people’s data was taken without permission. He also said that while his company knew of the breach, there was no way to punish the firm involved, Cambridge Analytica, because they weren’t on Facebook at the time.
“Why didn’t Facebook ban Cambridge Analytica back in 2015 when it first found out they were collecting user info in ways that violated its terms?” asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Zuckerberg said that Cambridge Analytica wasn’t using Facebook in 2015 as an advertiser, nor were they operating any pages. “We had nothing to ban,” he said.
Still, he apologized at the start of the hearing and agreed his company failed to protect its customers.
“They did not want their information to be sold to Cambridge Analytica by a developer,” he said. “Even though we didn’t do it, I think we have a responsibility to be able to prevent that and be able to take action sooner.”
He added that Facebook was working to review all third party apps to identify if there are any bad actors who have been taking information from the some 2 billion global users. But he said it’s unclear how many of those apps took information improperly, and told Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, he would “follow up” with specifics.
“Going forward, we’re going to take a more proactive position on this and do much more regular spot checks and other reviews of apps as well as increasing the amount of audits we do,” Zuckerberg said.
Zuckerberg will face more scrutiny Wednesday, in front of dozens of House lawmakers.
