UK And Canadian Parliaments Issue Unprecedented Joint Summons For Facebook CEO

Countries across the globe have been looking into the spread of disinformation on Facebook and how it can undermine the democratic process. The United Kingdom and Canada have been doing this too. The former has called on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to appear before a parliamentary committee multiple times to answer their questions but Zuckerberg has never appeared before it. The parliaments of the two countries have now issued an unprecedented joint summons for Mark Zuckerberg to appear before them.

The two parliamentary committees in the United Kingdom and Canada have issued a joint summons for Mark Zuckerberg to appear before them. They want him to answer their questions about the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal that they have both been investigating since early this year.

The chairs of the UK’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee and the Canadian Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics have sent a letter to Zuckerberg today that they wish to hold a “special joint parliamentary hearing at the Westminster Parliament” on November 27th. They mention that while the hearing will be led by them, a number of other parliaments may also be represented.

“Given your self-declared objective to “fix” Facebook, and to prevent the platform’s malign use in world affairs and democratic process, we would like to give you the chance to appear at this hearing,” the letter adds.

When approached by TechCrunch for a comment, a spokesperson for Facebook said that the company has received the committee’s letter and that it would respond by the deadline. No word as yet if Zuckerberg would be appearing before it.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Web
Tags: Facebook, mark zuckerberg