Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and CEO of social media platform Facebook, testified earlier than Congress for the primary time on Tuesday, April 10, for his firm’s failure to guard user data. It was the primary of two again-to-again appearances for the chief this week. The primary happened earlier than the joint listening to of the Senate judiciary and commerce committees, and on Wednesday, Zuckerberg is testifying in entrance of the Home Power and Commerce Committee. It received’t be simple, given the temperament in Congress.
“There are going to be people who are going to say Facebook ought to be broken up,” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said recently. “There have been a number of proposals and ideas for doing it, and I think unless [Zuckerberg] finds a way to honor the promise he made several years ago, he’s gonna have a law on his hands.”
Certainly, there are those that consider that Zuckerberg ought to resign on account of the privateness scandal, which got here to a head with the revelation that 87 million customers could have had their privateness violated. On Tuesday, forward of Zuckerberg’s first testimony in entrance of Congress, activist investor group Open MIC and its CEO Michael Connor mentioned in a press release,“Mark Zuckerberg’s prepared testimony highlights a simple fact: He doesn’t understand how a large, global and publicly held company is run. He currently has two jobs at Facebook — CEO and Chairman of the Board. It’s time for him to give up at least one, if not both, titles.”
“It is long past time for Facebook to separate the roles of company CEO and Chairman,” Connor continued, “and for Mark Zuckerberg to resign or be fired.”
The CEO Mark Zuckerberg notes that Facebook has, for many years, been a double-edged sword. “We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake,” the executive said. “It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.” The comments echo full-page ads Facebook has taken out recently. Will it be enough to sway the public?
