Facebook Inc. founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has accepted the European Parliament's invitation to "clarify issues related to the use of personal data," Antonio Tajani, president of the European Parliament, said in a statement May 16.
Zuckerberg will "meet the leaders of the political groups and the Chair and the Rapporteur of the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE)" in Brussels, Belgium "as soon as possible, hopefully already next week," he said.
The Conference of Presidents also decided to organize a hearing with Facebook and other concerned parties as it seeks to "carry out an in-depth analysis of aspects related to personal data protection," especially when it comes to the impact on Europe's electoral processes.
"We have accepted the Council of President's proposal to meet with leaders of the European Parliament and appreciate the opportunity for dialogue, to listen to their views and show the steps we are taking to better protect people's privacy," a spokesperson for Facebook said, according to a Reuters report.
Earlier this week, Zuckerberg turned down a request from British lawmakers to hear evidence, shortly after he was threatened with a formal summons in early May. Facebook recently suspended about 200 apps suspected of data misuse, pending the results of a full investigation.
Facebook is facing regulatory pressure in the U.S. and Europe following the Cambridge Analytica LLC data scandal, in which personal data from millions of Facebook users was used without their consent.
Zuckerberg's scheduled meeting with European policymakers comes as the General Data Protection Regulation is scheduled to take effect May 25.
