Zuckerberg Faces Summons If He Declines To Testify In The U.K.

While Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently testified before Congress following the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, he declined an invitation to appear before a parliamentary committee in the United Kingdom last month. The committee had requested him to appear and testify after it was reported that Cambridge Analytica had obtained information of millions of Facebook users improperly. The committee has now sent another invitation to the Facebook CEO and also said that he may face a summons if he declines to testify again.

Facebook sent a letter in response to the first invitation detailing the steps that the company has taken to enhance user privacy. It didn’t offer Zuckerberg but promised to send other high-level executives in his place.

Facebook’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer appeared before the parliamentary committee last week but didn’t really do much to address their concerns since they were left with almost 40 unanswered questions. This is why the committee has requested Mark Zuckerberg to appear in person once again and it has also sent him a list of questions concerning Facebook’s data practices.

The committee wants answers by May 11th and is looking to host Zuckerberg by May 24th. “We hope that he will respond positively to our request, but if not, the committee will resolve to issue a formal summons for him to appear when he is next in the UK,” it said.

A summons would compel Zuckerberg to appear before the committee when he next sets foot on British soil. That’s a prospect he can’t avoid as work would certainly take him to the United Kingdom at some point in the future. Facebook is yet to comment on the committee’s latest request.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: Facebook, mark zuckerberg