Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg will not answer questions from British lawmakers over how millions of users' data got into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as the company faces further pressure on both sides of the Atlantic.
Zuckerberg will instead send his Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer or Chief Product Officer Chris Cox to appear before parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee.
In response, its chairman said on Tuesday that lawmakers still wanted to speak to Zuckerberg and would see whether they could set up a session in person or via video link.
We will seek to clarify with Facebook whether he is available to give evidence or not as that wasn’t clear from our correspondence and if he is available to give evidence then we will be happy to do that either in person or by video link.Damian Collins
Zuckerberg apologised last week for the mistakes Facebook had made and promised tougher steps to restrict developers' access to such information, which saw the company's share price fall and prompt new questions from politicians and regulators.
In response to a request by British lawmakers to appear before them, the firm's Head of UK Public Policy told lawmakers that Schroepfer or Cox were better placed to answer questions.
Facebook fully recognises 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.Rebecca Stimson, Facebook’s head of public policy
"As such Mr Zuckerberg has personally asked one of his deputies to make themselves available to give evidence in person to the Committee,” Rebecca said.
US Senate Committee Summoned FB, Google, Twitter CEOs to Testify
The US Senate Judiciary Committee said on Monday it had invited the chief executive officers of Facebook Inc, Alphabet Inc and Twitter Inc to testify at a 10 April hearing on data privacy.
The hearing follows allegations that Cambridge Analytica, a British political consultancy, gained inappropriate access to data on 50 million Facebook users, prompting the Federal Trade Commission to launch an investigation.
Senator Charles Grassley, the committee's chairman, said he invited Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg "to testify at the hearing to discuss Facebook’s past and future policies regarding the protection and monitoring of consumer data."
Facebook is facing pressure from advertisers as the social network struggles with government scrutiny following the allegations. Zuckerberg last week apologised for mistakes that Facebook made in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users.
A Facebook spokesman said the company had received the hearing invitation and was reviewing it. A Twitter spokeswoman declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Google parent Alphabet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The hearing could be the highest-profile appearance by technology companies amid growing calls to regulate the industry.
"The hearing will broadly cover privacy standards for the collection, retention and dissemination of consumer data for commercial use." Grassley said. "It will also examine how such data may be misused or improperly transferred and what steps companies like Facebook can take to better protect personal information of users and ensure more transparency in the process."
Last week, the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee formally invited Zuckerberg to testify and the Senate Commerce Committee also invited him to appear. Neither committee has set a date for a hearing.
Facebook executives spent Wednesday and Thursday on Capitol Hill briefing congressional committee staffers. Zuckerberg said last week he would be willing to testify if he is the right person at the company to speak to lawmakers.
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