The founder and CEO of Facebook, the most widely used social media network, was called on by American lawmakers for supporting the regulations of the tech industry. He had two encounters, one with the Senate and one with the House. The 33-year-old CEO was put on the spot and at times he looked vulnerable as well. Facebook is used by a population of 2.2 Billion people around the globe, maintaining their privacy and developing an effective business model was always going to be a troublesome task. Quite understandably, these were the sort of questions on where Zuckerberg looked in a shambles.

A report by the New York Times presented most of the information used in this article.

Privacy and data collection

The most intriguing question regarding privacy was asked on Wednesday (April 11) by Mr. Pallone, who asked Mark Zuckerberg to reply with either “Yes” or “No” after asking him why can’t Facebook’s default settings run on minimal personal data collection. That would mean Facebook would need a user’s consent before sharing his personal data. "This issue is a complex one, it deserves more than one word," responded the CEO. Zuckerberg admitted that Facebook’s data was used in the famous "Analytica scandal." The CEO seems to admit that Facebook also tracks people who don’t use this social networking site, but he claimed that they did that only for security purposes.

While describing his future plans, Zuckerberg stated that Facebook is planning to overhaul data policies, ensure more privacy of the personal data, and will change the advertising policy. “I started Facebook, I run it and I am responsible for what happens here." That statement was the highlight Mark’s testimony.

The ignorance of American lawmakers

The most worrisome thing regarding Mark’s testimony wasn’t Facebook‘s privacy settings or data regulation, but rather it was American lawmakers. Apart from few exceptions, they seemed completely unaware of how Facebook works. It looks like, that as time has moved on, the 21st century has arrived, but our lawmakers haven’t moved forward.

Mark Zuckerberg remained unscathed for the larger part because some of the questions posed by lawmakers, in particular, American senators, were absolutely childish. “How do you sustain a business,” asked a senator, “in which users don’t pay for your services?" "We run ads,” replied Mr. Zuckerberg.

Mark’s encounter with Senator John Kennedy revealed all of his knowledge about Facebook’s privacy settings. He asked three questions from the CEO and got exactly the same reply each time. The questions were: "Can Facebook give me the right to erase my data? Can I prohibit Facebook from sharing my data? Can I have the privilege of sharing my Facebook data to other sites?" “Senator, you already have that option,” Mr. Zuckerberg replied with ease.
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