Facebook's Zuckerberg testifies before US Senate

By Ovunc Kutlu

NEW YORK

Facing questions about the worst data leak in the company's history, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified Tuesday before 44 U.S. senators on two powerful committees.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley (Republican, Iowa) called the hearing “unique,” adding that it is no secret Facebook makes money from data through advertising revenue, although many seem confused by or unaware of this.

"Facebook generated $40 billion in 2017, with about 98 percent coming from advertising," he said.

Commerce Committee Chairman Sen. John Thune (Republican, South Dakota) noted that 2 billion people use Facebook on a monthly basis, while 1.4 billion use it every day.

"Facebook's extraordinary reach is why we are here today. I am not convinced that Facebook's users have the information they need to make meaningful choices," he said.

Facebook reported last week that 87 million of its users' private information was used without consent by U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica for critical political voting in that country and the U.S.

“It is clear now that we didn't do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm as well," Zuckerberg testified. “That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech.”

"We didn't take a broad enough view of our responsibility and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake and I am sorry ... This includes the basic responsibility of protecting people's information which we failed to do with Cambridge Analytica," he added.

'We shouldn't have taken their word'

The CEO said Facebook is now conducting a full investigation into every single application that had access to large amounts of information. "I believe it is important to tell people exactly how the information they share on Facebook is going to be used."

He said when Facebook learned in 2015 that Cambridge Analytica used the data of the social network's users, the company took down the application that caused this leak.

"And, we considered it a closed case. We shouldn't have taken their word on it. That's why we didn't notify the Federal Trade Commission," he said.

Zuckerberg said Facebook is now increasingly developing A.I. tools that can identify certain classes of bad activity proactively. "This year we will have 20,000 people working on security and content review."

The CEO admitted that Facebook was slow in identifying the Russian information operations in 2016, and has now deployed new A.I. tools that do a better job in identifying fake accounts that may be trying to interfere in elections or spread misinformation.

Cambridge Analytica has been linked to President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign, and the U.K.-based firm allegedly used Facebook data to meddle with the elections.

"We provided support to the Trump campaign in sales support like we did with other campaigns," Zuckerberg said.

He acknowledged that Facebook has been served subpoenas from special counsel Robert Mueller's office. "Some Facebook employees have been interviewed by Mueller's office. I know we are working with them," he said.

Zuckerberg said Facebook will be verifying the identity of every single advertiser who is running a political or issue-related advertisement.

"That will make it significantly harder for Russian interference efforts and other efforts that are trying to spread misinformation," he added.

Zuckerberg was not under oath, but he was required by law to tell the truth, according to a Senate official.

The CEO will face the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday at 10 a.m. EST (0600GMT).