Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg faced calls Wednesday to testify in front of Russian lawmakers following his recent appearances before panels in the U.S. and Europe.
The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia’s parliament, will invite Mr. Zuckerberg to speak at one of its upcoming meetings, Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said Wednesday, Russian media reported.
“Whether he will be able to come or not is a secondary issue, but I would support a proposal to invite him to one of our sessions,” said Ms. Matviyenko, the state-owned TASS news agency reported. “I issued an order, we sent an invitation and will try to organize his arrival.”
Senator Anton Belyakov has invited Mr. Zuckerberg to deliver a speech at an “Expert Hour” session held by lawmakers, according to TASS.
“I am absolutely confident that this is a person who has ideas to share and who is looking to the future,” said Mr. Belyakov, a member of the small A Just Russia party, TASS reported.
The Federal Council’s efforts to secure Mr. Zuckerberg’s appearance emerged on the heels of his appearance last week before the European Parliament in Brussels, where the Facebook founder faced scrutiny from politicians and lawmakers over the social network’s policies for protecting user data and preventing the spread of fake news, among other matters.
Weeks earlier, Mr. Zuckerberg publicly testified before committees in both the U.S. House and Senate as Facebook came under fire over its ties to Cambridge Analytica, a British-based company that collected the personal information of 87 million Facebook users without their permission.
Representatives for Facebook did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday on the Russian lawmakers’ request.
Earlier this month, meanwhile, a member of the U.K. Parliament threatened to issue a summons ordering Mr. Zuckerberg to appear before lawmakers in London after he refused previous requests.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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