This Is What Mark Zuckerberg Will Tell Congress About Facebook’s Privacy Crisis

Read the founder and CEO’s complete prepared remarks.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. Chris Ratcliffe/PA Wire/Zuma

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg will spend two days this week testifying before Congress, following revelations that his company’s massive trove of personal data has been used by third parties to influence politics.

“It’s clear now that we didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm,” Zuckerberg will say, according to his prepared remarks. “That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections, and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy. We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry. I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”

Here are his full opening remarks for his planned testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce scheduled for Wednesday:

 



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We were built for times like these

Russian bots are impersonating us. Trump and his allies want to silence us. AI wants to (and does!) steal our content. The list goes on. But with 50 years of experience, we know we were built for this moment: We’re ready to keep diving deep and uncovering the truth, then getting that to you right here, completely accessible and never behind a paywall.

While our work is free to read, watch, and listen to online, it’s incredibly costly to make. Court documents, travel, research: It all adds up. Because we’re a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on reader support to fund our investigations. Will you stand with us in these extraordinary times, as headlines clamour for our attention and disinformation is rampant? We can’t get the truth out without you.

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