Facebook CEO To Testify Before Congress About A Firm Hired By Trump Campaign

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear before a Congress panel on Tuesday to testify about a data firm hired by the Trump campaign, which is accused of improperly obtaining data of up to 87 million Facebook users and supported political campaigns.

WASHINGTON, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Apr, 2018 ) :Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will appear before a Congress panel on Tuesday to testify about a data firm hired by the Trump campaign, which is accused of improperly obtaining data of up to 87 million Facebook users and supported political campaigns.

This will be the first time the Facebook CEO would be appearing before the Congress and was likely to be grilled and answer questions as to how British-based Cambridge Analytica was able to secure date of Facebook users.

Zuckerberg this week met US lawmakers to express his regret over how the data firm misused the Facebook users and shared it with the political consultancy. In case he fails to satisfy the lawmakers, Facebook faced possible regulations under the law.

Among the questions he faced include how Russian operatives who are believed to have attempted to influence the US 2016 elections were able to post advertisement and posts on the Facebook. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton faced an unexpected defeat at the hands of then candidate Mr.

Trump in the elections. Congress may decide to bring the social media giant under regulations. Facebook has already shown its willingness to support new laws that would make all social media networks disclose that who is posting political advertisement on Facebook, much like what the tv and radios do in the States.

If imposed, Facebook may see its advertisement revenue hurt, which is the main earning source for the social media platform used worldwide and which has billions of users. Since the controversy began in January, Facebook shares are almost 17 percent down.

The hearing will be heard by a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees, and some of the members have already expressed their discontent with Facebook and said that Zuckerberg had not been able to provide satisfying answers about the scandal.

Facebook was launched 14 years ago and is now the main medium of communication by billions of users in nearly all countries of the world. Facebook has already admitted that it first came to know about the improper obtaining of data by Cambridge Analytica in 2015, which had promised to destroy the data but never did.

The firm reportedly used that data to support the political campaigns, including that of President Trump. Lawmakers are particularly critical of Facebook over the fact that despite knowing the unfair practice, the social media giant did not take any action against the firm until now.

"Why did you not suspend the company from your platform in 2015?" a lawmaker was quoted as saying in a letter he sent to Facebook.