Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg invited again to appear before MPs investigating fake news
Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has been summoned to a special meeting of UK and Canadian MPs to give evidence about ‘fake news’.
Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport committee, has joined forces with his Canadian equivalent, Bob Zimmer, to propose a one-off hearing on 27 November.
The social media billionaire has already given evidence about Facebook’s use of personal data and role in disseminating ‘fake news’ to the US Congress and the European Parliament, but has repeatedly refused to appear before UK MPs.
The request for Zuckerberg to appear comes less than a week after Facebook was fined £500,000 for allowing users data to be harvested as part of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
In a letter signed by Collins and Zimmer, Zuckerberg is asked to appear before the special committee as part of his drive to “fix” Facebook.
The letter says: “The hearing of your evidence is now overdue, and urgent.”
It goes on: “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 speed of disinformation on your platform, and to protect user data.”
Zuckerberg dodged appearing before MPs in April, sending his chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer to answer questions on the company’s use of data instead.