Facebook co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is set to appear in front of European Parliament members in just over an hour in order to testify on the company’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, as well as a number of other privacy debacles that followed in recent weeks. While originally envisioned as a private audience with lawmakers on the Old Continent, the multi-billionaire’s hearing will end up being live-streamed following significant backlash from the general public and advocacy groups. The event is officially scheduled to start at 6:20 PM CET, i.e. 9:20 AM PST and 12:20 PM EST, with the EU Parliament estimating the questioning will take some 90 minutes. The political bloc’s EPTV will be the only source broadcasting the gathering, with its page dedicated to the hearing being available through the banner below.
Mr. Zuckerberg already endured close to ten hours of congressional questions in the United States last month but many industry watchers were quick to criticize those hearings as being extremely basic in nature and revealing little about the firm’s efforts to stop the existing abuse of its platform and prevent future misuse attempts aimed at violating people’s privacy for profit, political gain, or other reasons. The upcoming questioning helmed by the EU Parliament is expected to be much less friendly, with the 34-year-old being likely to face a grilling over Cambridge Analytica and numerous other issues.
The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation is going into force this Friday, being introduced as the most comprehensive data privacy law in the Western world that severely limits the manner in which digital companies are allowed to mine, manage, and leverage user data. Facebook is presently in the process of probing a wide variety of third-party apps suspected of privacy violations, having already suspended approximately 200 of them since late March. Mr. Zuckerberg is expected to start his Tuesday hearing with another apology for the Cambridge Analytica episode, as well as a promise the social media giant will do more to protect its users in the future.
Zuckerberg's Hearing On EPTV