House panel calls for Zuckerberg to testify

Top lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are calling for Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to testify before the panel over the Cambridge Analytica controversy.

Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the panel’s ranking member, said in a statement Thursday that they want Zuckerberg to appear before the committee.

{mosads}They join a growing chorus of lawmakers who are pushing for the Facebook CEO to testify on Capitol Hill following new revelations regarding the social media platform’s handling of sensitive user data. 

Along with Republicans like Sens. Jerry Moran (Kan.) and John Kennedy (La.) and Democrats like Sens. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) and Ed Markey (Mass.), the pair wants Zuckerberg to clarify how Cambridge Analytica, a firm used by the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential race, improperly obtained data from 50 million Facebook users.

“After committee staff received a briefing yesterday from Facebook officials, we felt that many questions were left unanswered,” Walden and Pallone said in a joint statement.

“Mr. Zuckerberg has stated that he would be willing to testify if he is the right person. We believe, as CEO of Facebook, he is the right witness to provide answers to the American people,” they said.

They said in the statement that a formal letter will be sent to Zuckerberg “in the coming days.”

Zuckerberg said during a media blitz on Wednesday night that he is open to testifying before Congress, but only if he is the correct person at Facebook to do so.

Facebook’s data practices are under intense scrutiny after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica took data from 50 million of Facebook users without their permission and then did not delete data after telling Facebook it would.