World leaders demand appearance and answers from Zuckerberg...
Net closes in on Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg, world
leaders demand answers on fake news
FACEBOOK boss Mark Zuckerberg faced new demands yesterday
to submit to a grilling by an international panel of MPs on his role in
spreading fake news and protecting users' personal information.
By ALISON LITTLE 10:53, Thu, Nov 8, 2018
Parliamentarians from Australia, Ireland and Argentina
joined the call after Facebook refused a request from senior MPs in the UK and
Canada.
Damian Collins, chairman of the House of Commons'
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee, accused Facebook of dodging its
responsibilities.
The company said Mr Zuckerberg could not accept the
invitation from Mr Collins and his Canadian counterpart to appear before an
"international grand committee" in London on November 27.
Facebook has been embroiled in scandals about systems
that let outside organisations harvest users' personal data for their own
purposes, including allegedly to target voters in the 2016 US poll that elected
Donald Trump.
Facebook hires Nick Clegg for top PR job to shape fake
news policies
On Tuesday, UK data protection chief Elizabeth Denham,
the Information Commissioner, told Mr Collins' committee that Facebook had shown
users a "disturbing level of disrespect".
She also found evidence that data on the platform was
accessed by addresses linked to previous cyber attacks and Russian locations.
In July she fined Facebook the maximum possible £500,000
for failing to protect data.
Declining Mr Collins' initial request for Mr Zuckerberg
to present himself, Facebook UK's public policy chief Rebecca Stimson said he
could not be available to all parliaments.
But the company would "continue to cooperate fully
with relevant regulators (and) fully recognise the seriousness of these issues
and remain committed to working with you to provide any additional relevant
information you require".
Conservative MP Mr Collins said: "By dismissing our
request, Facebook is failing to acknowledge its line of accountability not only
to legislators, but to its users worldwide.
"There remain serious questions to be answered about
what measures Facebook is taking now to halt the spread of disinformation on
its platform and protection for user data.
"His response is not good enough for my committee
nor for the parliamentarians from around the world who also consider that Mark
Zuckerberg has questions to answer in person. That's why we're inviting him
once more. It's a call that's growing, not diminishing."
The five parliamentary committee chiefs - whose countries
between them are home to an estimated 170 million Facebook users - have given
Mr Zuckerberg until Monday NOV 12 to respond to their latest challenge.
Mr Collins added: "Mark Zuckerberg has set himself
the personal challenge of 'fixing' Facebook this year to prevent its misuse in
our democratic process.
"By being unwilling to face questions about his
progress, doubts about his ability to do so remain."
Facebook says it thinks it complies with EU data
protection law.
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