Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
FACEBOOK CHIEF MARK Zuckerberg apologised to the European Parliament today for the “harm” caused by a huge breach of users’ data and by a failure to crack down on fake news.
But Zuckerberg’s appearance failed to satisfy MEPs who accused him of dodging questions and criticised a format that gave the parliament’s political leaders far more time to give long-winded speeches.
His livestreamed testimony in Brussels was the latest stop on a tour of apology for the Cambridge Analytica scandal that saw him quizzed for ten hours in the US Congress in April, and will take him to Paris tomorrow.
Zuckerberg said that while Facebook has brought in new features to connect people, it had become clear in the last two years that they “haven’t done enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm”.
“And that goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections or developers misusing people’s information. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility,” he said in his opening statement.
“That was a mistake, and I’m sorry for it.”
‘Too slow’
The European Parliament invited Zuckerberg in March after Facebook admitted that up to 87 million users may have had their data hijacked by British consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica.
The firm, which was working for US President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, has since declared bankruptcy.
Zuckerberg originally tried to send a junior executive instead but finally bowed to pressure to appear. However he only agreed for it to be livestreamed on Monday after initially insisting on it being behind closed doors.
Appearing calm and unruffled during the 90-minute hearing, Zuckerberg welcomed the EU’s sweeping new personal data protection rules, which come into effect in three days, saying that his website would be “fully compliant”.
In that spirit, Zuckerberg said Facebook was bringing in new features including a special “clear history” button that would allow them to delete any cookies or browsing history details it stores.
Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook had been “too slow to identify Russian interfering” in the 2016 US presidential ballot but was working with European governments for future elections.
In the run-up to last year’s French elections Facebook “found and took down more than 30,000 fake accounts”, he said.
‘Pre-cooked format’
But some European lawmakers were still unhappy with the format in which Zuckerberg answered questions for only 25 minutes — half as long as the time it took the parliament’s political leaders to get through their long-winded questions.
“Today’s pre-cooked format was inappropriate and ensured Zuckerberg could avoid our questions,” Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Liberal leader, tweeted afterwards.
The former Belgian prime minister asked Zuckerberg during the hearing if he wanted to be remembered as a “genius who created a digital monster”.
Manfred Weber, the German head of the centre-right European People’s Party, the largest group in parliament, said the Facebook chief was “not very convincing” and “did not answer all our questions”.
But European Parliament President Antonio Tajani — who invited Zuckerberg and arranged the meeting — called Zuckerberg’s visit a “success” even if he said his apology was “not enough” and required follow up.
Zuckerberg meanwhile pledged that Facebook would make fresh investments to protect its users in the wake of the scandal — with many of those in Europe where he plans to have 10,000 employees by the end of the year.
“It’s going to take time to work through all of the changes we must make. But I’m committed to getting it right, and to making the significant investments needed to keep people safe,” he added.
“I expect this will significantly impact our profitability. But I want to be clear: keeping people safe will always be more important than maximising our profits.”
Zuckerberg is due to meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris tomorrow.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Great to see – now lets really tackle packaging waste and force business to make the environmentally correct choice when choosing their packaging – We need to get rid of plastic bottles, plastic wrapping and one off coffee cups and lids
@brian boru:
Bring in another tax…..
@P.J. Nolan: not all taxes are bad – some make sense and others are just greedy – if taxes make it cost effective for a business to do the right thing then it is a good tax in my book. Some are greedy and corrupt like the Irish water plan and need to be fought but smart taxation can be beneficial to society.
All the chocolate bar companies have moved to plastic wrapping because it costs less. Like wise the soft drink companies have moved to plastic bottles because they are prettier. Neither are thinking about the environment and need to be forced to rethink their packaging plans. Taxation is the fastest route to getting these huge companies to change their game plan at the speed we need it to happen.
@brian boru: I would be far more comfortable if chocolate bars once again came in paper and foil. I know they wont recycle the foil but i’m sure it does far less than damage to the environment than plastic.
@Darren Byrne: The plastic gives a longer shelf life so the chocolate companies are using it to give them higher margins at the cost of the environment. Regulatory needs to step in and drive a higher cost to the manufacturer for using the plastic due to the environmental cost. Am sure if the right pressure was applied a solution could be arranged that worked for everyone. The only lever I can think of in this situation is taxation as expecting people to make the change will take generations.
@brian boru: I’m sure it does give longer shelf life, but surely chocolate is a fast-selling item with a high turnover rate? And once bought? I’ve often eaten a square or two and put it away for a week or so, okay, I’m odd, but a lot of people seem to eat bars very quickly once they have some in the house – I’ve even heard of people freezing a bar to keep it for later. I honestly don’t see chocolate as being in any danger of going off before it’s consumed.
It’s fantastic the system works, now let’s solve the plastic bottles ( bottle water ) and the coffee cup problem .
Great and more to be done… especially with plastic
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/plasticpledge/?beta=true
Where are all the reusable items stripped out of the WEEE appliances. Is it Ireland, UK, Europe.
Surely it’s not Africa where all that toxic stuff is released in both the air and the soil/water, by burning all that plastic stuff that covers wires and other components by folks trying to scrape a living together ?
Any answers appreciated. Hope I’m wrong.
Is a dildo a small appliance? Just asking
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
@Seriously stunned: that all depends on the wife’s choice in style
If domestic appliances were designed and built to last longer than the now average 5 to 10 years lifespan then recycling would be greatly reduced.The average lifespan of some appliances twenty or thirty years ago was averaging ten to twenty years .Most appliances now have built in obsolescence.
Great, but after the specials on Aldi and Lidl this Sunday, we’ll need extra capacity!
You are going to have a great bunch of lads moistening their lips when you talk about that much copper
This just demonstrates the amount of junk we buy throw out and replace. Thats not sustainable
have your say