Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg plans to personally apologize for privacy abuses and allowing the social media giant that he founded to be manipulated by foreign entities planting fake news during the 2016 presidential election, according to a copy of the testimony he plans to give to Congress later in the week.
In comments published on Monday by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he will be questioned on Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg said “we didn’t do enough” to prevent the massive platform from being influenced by outsiders.
“That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy,” he added. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
This week the embattled social media giant finds itself in under intense scrutiny in Washington. In addition to his appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday — on Tuesday Mr. Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear in a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees.
Recent weeks have seen the firms’ share price plummet amid a growing scandal over its role in the Russian election meddling saga and how it handled a data breach of an estimated 87 millions users after the information was copied by Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm tied to President Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Mr. Zuckerberg’s prepared remarks address the scandal and find him admitting that more must be done.
“We were too slow to spot and respond to Russian interference, and we’re working hard to get better,” his testimony read. “Our sophistication in handling these threats is growing and improving quickly.”
On Monday, Mr. Zuckerberg reportedly met privately with lawmakers on Capitol Hill as news emerged from The Atlantic Magazine that despite calls for his removal from the firm, he has no plans to resign.
• Dan Boylan can be reached at dboylan@washingtontimes.com.
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