Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testimony Day 2 HIGHLIGHTS: Here’s what happened

Michigan Democrat, Debbie Dingell grills Zuckerberg: "As CEO you didn’t know some key facts. You didn’t know about key court cases regarding privacy and your company. You don't even know all kind of information Facebook is collecting from its users."

Dingell asks how many 'like' buttons are there in non-Facebook pages?

I don't know the answer to that, says Zuckerberg.

Dingell continues, How many 'share' buttons are there in non-Facebook pages?

I don't know the answer to that, we can follow up and get back to you, says Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg gets 72 hours for his response.

Commenting on Republican Susan Brooks question on ISIS and other terrorist organizations using Facebook for recruitment purpose, Mark Zuckerberg says, "terrorist content propaganda has no place in" Facebook's network. Zuckerberg says that Facebook has developed tools, that identifies such content and takes it down even before being flagged by someone.

Zuckerberg said they did do this in the past, but have announced the practice will be shut down. 

"Yes we do have a policy where we can delete, rescind emails after sometime," says Zuckerberg. Anything with a legal value is not deleted, he indicates. 

Facebook CEO is being questioned over the Search feature, which was used to scrape user data of nearly all of its 2 billion users.  Zuckerberg is being questioned on why Facebook did nothing for so long on this issue, especially when it was revealed as early as 2013.  Facebook CEO is also questioned on shadow profiles of users who are not on Facebook. 

Mark Zuckerberg is talking about how they plan to control fake accounts, especially where pictures of other users are used. Long term solution, he says, to build more AI tools which can find patterns that no human would be able to do. Zuckerberg says that's an area where they will be able to develop more AI tools for the same. 

'If we have knowledge of imminent harm, we try and reach out to local law enforcement agencies to make sure no harm takes place. That's most well-built in the US, than in other countries. The second category is general legal processes. We are not in the business of providing information to Russian govt and agencies,' says Mark Zuckerberg. "We do not store data in Russia." 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says they will work with the Committee to help such a privacy regulation. 

Zuckerberg facing some tough questions on opioids being sold via the platform.  He is facing questions on why Facebook has not taken actions those selling opioids on the platform. "You said we were going to take down those ads. You didn't do it," says David McKinley. "I agree this is a terrible issue. But when there are 10 of billions of content being shared every day, even 20,000 people are not enough," says Zuckerberg.  

Zuckerberg is asked to explain this experiement that took place in 2012. "At the time, there were a number of questions, whether people seeing positive or negative content on social network was affecting their mood. We felt we had a responsiblity to know if we can have that affect. We didn't want to have that affect." says Zuckerberg.  

The questions to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: Is Facebook collecting data on those users who do not even have a account? I don't think the average American understands that? You can track people's searches, what people buy online? Zuckerberg is struggling here. The Congresswoman Kathy Castor is going hard with the questions on whether Facebook is gathering data. "I disagreee with that characterisation," says Mark Zuckerberg.  

Zuckerberg is told about COO Sheryl Sandberg's statement that there could be other data breaches. Zuckerberg admits they did get it wrong. "We were trying to balance data portability and we needed to make sure that everyone's data is protected. We did not get the balance right, " says Zuckerberg. 

The principle is that we are a platform for all ideas and I care for this idea deeply. None of the changes we make are with any bias in mind, says Zuckerberg. The Facebook CEO admits that they do make mistakes at time in content review. "I would not extrapolate that the system is biased on the basis of a few examples," he adds. 

Mark Zuckerberg told lawmakers that his own personal data was included in that of 87 million or so Facebook users that was improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

Zuckerberg says when they were first told in 2015, they had asked the developer to delete the data. This is in reference to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. 'We need to confirm whether derivatives were deleted, before I can confirm this,' adds the Facebook CEO. 

We expect it to take many months, say Zuckerberg. The Congresswoman replies saying, Years? Zuckerberg says he hopes not. 

Zuckerberg is pressed on whether the company turned a blind eye to the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, when it was first highlighted. The FTC consent decree of 2011 is being discussed and how Facebook overlooked the app like the one from Aleksander Kogan, which is improperly used Facebook data. "Why should we trust you to follow these processes," is the question for Zuckerberg. Facebook CEO disagrees that the company has not followed due processes. 

Facebook's new algorithm is being questioned and whether it is negativel impacts conservative content. Zuckerberg says no directive to have a bias. "Our goal is to be a platform for all ideas." 

The Facebook CEO is asked the data that is mined for security purposes, also sold for advertising. Zuckerberg says he will follow up on that.

Zuckerberg is asked whether Facebook has seen a rise in users de-activating their accounts in light of the Cambridge Analytica. He says no. He is also asked whether Facebook has seen a decrease in user interaction after the Cambridge Analytica incident came to light. Zuckerberg denies this is true. Mark Zuckerberg is now being asked about an FTC investigation. "I remember the consent decree. But I don't remember the financial penalty," says Zuckerberg. 

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he believes it is ``inevitable'' that there will be regulation of his industry.

Zuckerberg says they only remove hate speech or terrorism-related content. 

Zuckerberg is asked whether Facebook will have the same tools needed to comply with GDPR and in the US. The Facebook CEO says the tools will be the same globally. 

"It is really important for our service that people know what they are signing up for. We have laid out the terms and conditions for people, " says Zuckerberg. "Is the average consumer look at the terms and conditions and make the evaluation that is good or bad? If a consumer wanted to know, could they know," asks US Congressman Michael Burgess. 

Zuckerberg says yes, Facebook has the ability. "This has become a top priority for the company to make sure this does not happen again." We are employing new AI tools to catch fake accounts that could be spreading fake information. 

Zuckerberg says they are not aware of any specific terrorist or criminal groups that have engaged in such kinds of activity, where the user data was sold. "We do not allow hate groups on Facebook overall," he adds. 

We do this for two reasons: Security and ad reasons. For security we need to make sure that someone who is not logged in can't access public data of other users. The second reason is for ad networks. "We may collect information to make some ads more relevant. Anyone can turn it off," he says. 

"There needs to be some regulation. We have to be careful about the kind of regulation that comes into place," he adds. It needs to be thought through very carefully, says the Facebook CEO. 

"Is there any reason why Facebook can't have a no data sharing policy till the child reaches the age of 18," asks Joe Barton.  Zuckerberg says they have several tools in place to ensure that kids are safe on the platform.  "However we see that teens actually do like sharing their opinions publicily," he adds.  

Senator Joe Barton is asking question from Facebook. He's asking why is Facebook censoring content from conservative views. Zuckerberg says they made an error in this case and are fixing it.  

"People want to be able to sign into app, and that's the reason we built  the developer platform in the first place. To make experiences more social... And that's what we built. We have recognised it can be abused, and we are trying to restrict some of the data that can be accessed, " replies Zuckerberg. 

Is Facebook limiting the type of data that it collects and use? Zuckerberg replies yes, they do limit the type of data they collect and use.  Is Facebook changing any default settings to be more privacy protective? Zuckerberg again replies yes. We have changed a lot of the way our platform works so that developers cannot access so much information. Senator Frank Pallone is not convinced by Zuckerberg's replies though. 
Will you make the committment to change default settings to minimise collection of user data? This is a yes or no question, but Zuckerberg says this is a complicated issue.

Facebook created its own video series, points out the chairperson. So is Facebook a media company? Zuckerberg says he views Facebook as technology company. "Do we have a responsibility for the kind of content that users share on Facebook? Yes, I believe we do. " Is Facebook a financial institution, asks the chairman. Zuckerberg says he does not think of themselves as one, even though they have the option of payments on the platform. 

Advertisers and app developers will never take priority while I run Facebook, says Mark Zuckerberg. Issues we are talking about are not just for Facebook, but for our commnity as a whole. 

"Facebook made itself a powerful tool for voter suppression by opening its data to app developers. It is worse because no one knows how many app developers have access to people's information. How many Cambridge Analyticas are out there," says Frank Pallone, who is a ranking member of the Committee. He points out that the latest disaster shows that the Republicans were wrong to remove many of the privacy protections. He says the cycle of data leaks must be stopped. "We need comprehensive data protection legislation," he says. 

Cambridge Analytica will definitely be a highlight of this hearing. It also looks like how Facebook data is shared with third party apps will be discussed during this sessions. "These issues apply not just to Facebook, but equally to other internet companies that collect user data online," says Chairman Greg Walden. 

The Facebook testimony has begun. Chairman Greg Walden begins by talking about the Cambridge Analytica incident. He says that mostly American users and their data were compromised, which is disturbing. 'How should policy makers respond to these events,' he says.  "While Facebook has certainly grown, I worry it has not matured. There are critical unanswered questions around Facebook's business model," he said. 

"Users trust Facebook with a lot of information... Facebook collect a lot of the information about users. People trust that their personal information is in good hands," he adds.   

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has appeared for this testimony to the US Energy and Commerce Committee. The session will start soon. It is also live on the Energy and Commerce YouTube channel. 

The day 2 testimony of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will start soon, in just another five-to seven minutes. Zuckerberg will be answering questions to the US Senate Committee on Energy and Commerce. The session is called Facebook: Transparency and Use of Consumer data. Zuckerberg has a prepared statement for the Committee, which is the same as the one from the last session. However, the questions will likely be different. 

Senator Kennedy was one of those who had the harshest words for Facebook's user agreement during the day one hearing. 'The purpose of that user agreement is to cover Facebook's rear end. It's not to inform your users about their rights,' he told the Facebook CEO. He also said the Facebook user agreement sucks and was not something the average American could understand. Zuckerberg was also asked if Facebook could look up and share the data of one particular person. Zuckerberg said that they would absolutely not do something like this. But Kennedy pressed him on whether theoretically it was possible for Facebook to check someone's data and share it with somebody. The Facebook CEO said, 'I do not believe we have the right to do that,' but admitted that technically, someone could do that. However he added this would be massive breach and the company would never ever do that for the same reason. 

Mark Zuckerberg did face a question around the issue of whether social networks should be regulated. He was asked whether the European style regulations should be applied in the US as well. It should be noted that unlike the US, European Union has very strict data laws with a focus on user privacy. In fact, Facebook will also face some questions in the EU as well. Regarding European regulations, the Facebook CEO said, "Regardless of whether we implement the exact same regulation, I would guess that it would be somewhat different, because we have somewhat different sensibilities in the U.S. as to other countries."  He did admit though that are some areas which needs regulations of other types.