INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Francisco: Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday navigated through the first of two United States congressional hearings
without making any further promises to support new legislation or change how the social network does business
Investors were impressed with his performance
Shares in Facebook posted their biggest daily gain in nearly two years, closing up 4.5 per cent
The shares fell steeply last month after it came to light that millions of users' personal information was harvested from Facebook by
Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that has counted United States President Donald Trump's election campaign among its clients
The latest estimate of affected users is up to 87 million.That disclosure pitched Facebook into a crisis of confidence among users,
advertisers, employees and investors who were already struggling with Facebook's reaction to fake news and its role in the 2016
election.During nearly five hours of questioning by 44 United States senators, Zuckerberg repeated apologies he previously made for a range
of problems that have beset Facebook, from a lack of data protection to Russian agents using Facebook to influence United States
elections.But the 33-year-old internet mogul managed to deflect any specific promises to support any congressional regulation of the world's
largest social media network and other United States internet companies."I'll have my team follow up with you so that way we can have
this discussion across the different categories where I think this discussion needs to happen," Zuckerberg told a joint hearing by the
United States Senate's Commerce and Judiciary committees, when asked what regulations he thought were necessary.PACKED HEARINGThe crowded
Senate hearing was not without theatrics, although most was from the audience, like an activist dressed in costume as a Russian internet
"troll." On Twitter, observers seemed obsessed with an extra cushion on Zuckerberg's chair that was dubbed his "booster seat." A
photojournalist for Associated Press took a picture of his prepared talking points and the photo was posted on Twitter.The Senate hearing
(2300 GMT), and a second session before a House of Representatives committee is scheduled for Wednesday at 10 a.m
(1400 GMT).Wearing a dark suit and tie instead of his typical T-shirt and jeans, Zuckerberg remained largely unruffled and serious as
But some senators did provoke a reaction
Zuckerberg was asked whether Facebook was a monopoly
"It certainly doesn't feel that way to me," he said, breaking into a smile as the audience laughed.But the senators who asked sharp
questions were often at a disadvantage because each had only five minutes to pin down the billionaire.Democratic Senator Kamala Harris, from
Facebook's home state of California, asked a line of questions about whether Zuckerberg or his senior executives considered notifying
Facebook users of the data breach
She was among the lawmakers dissatisfied."Mark Zuckerberg's failure to answer several critical questions during his appearance before the
Senate today leaves me concerned about how much Facebook values trust and transparency," she wrote on Twitter.SEEING A CONNECTIONFacebook
disclosed in September that Russians under fake names used the social network to try to influence United States voters in the months before
and after the 2016 election, writing about inflammatory subjects, setting up events and buying ads."We believe it is entirely possible that
there will be a connection there," Zuckerberg said when asked if there was overlap between Cambridge Analytica's harvested user data and
the political propaganda pushed by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency during the 2016 presidential election, which Facebook has
said was seen by some 126 million people.The United States Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether Facebook violated an agreement
it signed with the agency in 2011 by its actions in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.In the agreement, which Facebook signed to end an
investigation into privacy breaches, the company promised not to misrepresent the extent to which it maintains the privacy or security of
personal information, and it said it would obtain users' affirmative consent before sharing personal information with any third
party.Zuckerberg told senators he did not see the Cambridge Analytica episode as a violation
But he acknowledged that Facebook did not notify the FTC in 2015 when it first learned of that company's data-harvesting.On Friday,
Zuckerberg threw his support behind proposed legislation, known as the Honest Ads Act, that would require social media sites to disclose the
identities of buyers of online political campaign ads.On Tuesday, however, Zuckerberg would not agree to speak out further on behalf of the
Honest Ads Act."Are you going to come back up here and be a strong advocate to see that that law's passed" asked Democratic Senator Tom
Udall."Senator, the biggest thing I think we can do is implement it," Zuckerberg responded, saying that Facebook already planned to comply
