European Parliament members grilled Facebook Inc. Chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company's commitment to compliance with sweeping new EU data protection regulations in a May 22 meeting that at times broke out into shouting on the part of the questioners.
The social media executive listened to nearly an hour of the European leaders' questions before attempting to respond. The meeting marked Zuckerberg's first appearance before the European Parliament in the wake of a scandal in which the now-defunct data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica LLC and other third parties improperly accessed the data of millions of Facebook users.
Zuckerberg apologized at the meeting for Facebook's missteps, echoing his earlier testimony before U.S. lawmakers in saying the company had failed "to take a broad enough view of our responsibility." He also pointed to Facebook's recent actions to strengthen its data protection practices, including its suspension of 200 applications that the company suspected may have misused user data.
Regarding the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, a data protection measure that is set to become law May 25, Zuckerberg said he expects Facebook to be fully compliant with the rules by the time the law goes into effect. The rules require a company to obtain unambiguous affirmative consent from a user before collecting or processing the user's personal data, among other protections.
During their questions, several European lawmakers expressed skepticism about Facebook's commitment to user privacy. "You have [said] that you're going to apply [the standards], but are you telling the truth?" Guy Verhofstadt, chair of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, asked ahead of Zuckerberg's closing remarks.
Udo Bullmann, chair of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, echoed Verhofstadt's comments, adding, "Can you guarantee that you will not collect, use and sell any data to third parties without proper consent?"
After Zuckerberg's response, several European lawmakers criticized what they described as vague responses from the executive. "I asked you six yes and no questions. I got not a single answer," said Philippe Lamberts, co-chair of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance.
At the request of European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, Zuckerberg agreed to provide written responses to each of the lawmakers' questions in the days following the hearing.
The social media CEO said Facebook remains committed to Europe, with plans to hire an additional 3,000 employees in the area, to reach a total of 10,000 by the end of the year. Facebook also is building more advanced artificial intelligence tools to detect fake accounts on the site and will work closely with governments to identify misinformation threats during future political elections, he said, responding to lawmakers' concerns about the spread of false or misleading information on the social media platform.
