Yesterday, Mark Zuckerberg appeared before US lawmakers at Capitol Hill to testify before the US senate after the data breach scandal that impacted Facebook’s reputation especially concerning the safeguard of private user information. The Facebook CEO told US lawmakers that the social media giant will do everything it can to not be held responsible for any malpractice in election campaigns occurring in India and other countries.
2018 is an important year for the whole world. Several countries like India, Pakistan will have elections. We’ll do everything possible to ensure these elections are safe,
Zuckerberg said in front of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, at Capitol Hill.
Prior to his hearing, Zuckerberg expressed his apologies and took the responsibility for the role his platform played in circulating fake news and the way foreign companies and individuals used Facebook as a tool to manipulate elections.
The young entrepreneur also stated his shame that Facebook could not identify the Russian operations in 2016, which ultimately benefitted the elected President, Donald Trump in becoming USA’s 45th President.
The hearing of Mark Zuckerberg comes in the wake of reports emerging in March stating that Facebook failed to protect the personal data of over 87 million Facebook users from Cambridge Analytica, which campaigned for Donald Trump and were hired to target possible Trump voters via Facebook during the 2016 US Presidential elections.