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Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg Will Testify Before Congress On April 10 And 11

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will visit Capitol Hill to discuss consumer data privacy issues, under questioning from Senate and House panels.
Stephen Lam
/
Reuters
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will visit Capitol Hill to discuss consumer data privacy issues, under questioning from Senate and House panels.

Updated at 8:30 p.m. ET

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will testify on Capitol Hill on April 10 and 11 before the a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce Committees, followed by one before the House Energy and Commerce Committee, to answer questions about how the company protects its users' data.

Multiple congressional committees have asked Zuckerberg to testify in light of reporting about Cambridge Analytica's use of Facebook data to target American voters in the 2016 election.

In a statement Wednesday, House lawmakers welcomed the opportunity to hear from Facebook's CEO.

"This hearing will be an important opportunity to shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online. We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg's willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions on April 11th," said Reps. Greg Walden and Frank Pallone, the top Republican and Democrat on the panel, in a statement.

In another statement, Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley and Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune highlighted how many people rely on Facebook and other social platforms, and need their information to be secure.

Thune noted that Facebook plays a critical role for people "pitching everything from products to political candidates." Grassley said, "This hearing will explore approaches to privacy that satisfy consumer expectations while encouraging innovation."

The Senate Judiciary Committee has also invited the CEOs of Google and Twitter to testify, but it has not confirmed whether they will attend.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Brett Neely is an editor with NPR's Washington Desk, where he works closely with NPR Member station reporters on political coverage and edits stories about election security and voting rights.
Barbara Campbell