Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asked to give evidence by global lawmakers

Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg.
Photo by Chip
Somodevilla/Getty Images

• Politicians from the UK and Canada investigating fake
  news have joined forces to try and make Mark Zuckerberg give
  evidence on the subject.
• Lawmakers Damian Collins and Bob Zimmer have formed an
  unprecedented joint committee, and will hold a hearing in
  London on November 27.
• They accused Zuckerberg of sending more junior
  representatives to give evidence to the British and Canadian
  committees, and say his own evidence is “now overdue, and
  urgent.”

Lawmakers from Britain and Canada have joined forces to try and
make Mark Zuckerberg answer their questions about fake news.

British politician Damian Collins, who leads the Digital,
Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, and Canadian MP Bob Zimmer,
chair of the Canadian Standing Committee on Access to
Information, Privacy, and Ethics, penned a joint letter to
Zuckerberg.

The letter says that over the past year both committees have
tried to obtain evidence from a Facebook executive about
“failures of process” including the Cambridge Analytica scandal
and data breaches.

Read more:
Facebook gets maximum fine for the catastrophic Cambridge
Analytica data breach

“You have chosen instead to send less senior representatives, and
have not yourself appeared, despite having taken up invitations
from the US Congress and Senate, and the European Parliament,”
the letter says.

Both committees say that they plan to publish final reports by
December, and view Zuckerberg’s evidence as “now overdue, and
urgent.”

The newly formed “International Grand Committee” will hold an
unprecedented joint hearing in the British parliament on November
27, and the letter states that while it will be led by Collins
and Zimmer “a number of other parliaments are likely to be
represented.”

“We call on you to take up this historic opportunity to tell
parliamentarians from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond about
the measures Facebook is taking to halt the spread of
disinformation on your platform, and to protect user data,” the
letter concludes.

The letter gives Zuckerberg until November 7 to respond. A
Facebook spokeswoman told Business Insider: “We’ve received the
committee’s letter and will respond to Mr Collins by his
deadline.”

You can read the full letter here:

Dear Mr Zuckerberg,

‘International grand committee’ hearing: call for evidence

We write jointly as Chairs of the committees of the UK and
Canadian Houses of Commons appointed to scrutinize digital
policy, including disinformation and the governance of the
internet.

Over the past year, our committees have both sought evidence from
a Facebook executive with sufficient authority to give an
accurate account of recent failures of process, including the
recent Cambridge Analytica scandal and subsequent data breaches.

You have chosen instead to send less senior representatives, and
have not yourself appeared, despite having taken up invitations
from the US Congress and Senate, and the European Parliament.

We understand that it is not possible to make yourself available
to all parliaments. However, we believe that your users in other
countries need a line of accountability to your organisation —
directly, via yourself. We would have thought that this
responsibility is something that you would want to take up. We
both plan to issue final reports on this issue by the end of this
December, 2018. The hearing of your evidence is now overdue, and
urgent.

We plan to hold a special joint parliamentary hearing at the
Westminster Parliament on Tuesday 27th November—an ‘international
grand committee’ on disinformation and fake news. This will be
led by ourselves but a number of other parliaments are likely to
be represented.

No such joint hearing has ever been held. Given your
self-declared objective to “fix” Facebook, and to prevent the
platform’s malign use in world affairs and democratic process, we
would like to give you the chance to appear at this hearing.

We call on you to take up this historic opportunity to tell
parliamentarians from both sides of the Atlantic and beyond about
the measures Facebook is taking to halt the spread of
disinformation on your platform, and to protect user data.

We would like to receive your response by Wednesday 7 November.