Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg will testify before both Senate and House committees on April 10 and April 11, respectively, over the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Senate Joint Hearing
The Senate Judiciary Committee was the first to ask Zuckerberg, along with the Google's and Twitter's CEOs, to testify in a hearing focusing on social media and data privacy. However, before he even agreed to testify in this hearing, Zuckerberg issued a public statement saying he will testify in the House hearing. Since then, it seems members of the Senate Commerce Committee wanted to do a joint hearing with the Judicial Committee, something that rarely happens.
The joint Senate hearing will start at at 2:15pm ET on Tuesday, April 10. You can watch it live on the Senate Judiciary Committee's page.
House Hearing
The members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, for which Zuckerberg agreed to testify first, also seem to have received the most campaign donations from Facebook, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This committee also has jurisdiction that gives it regulatory power over internet companies. In a 2017 statement about how the company’s PAC donates to political candidates, Facebook said:
In deciding which federal candidates to support, Facebook PAC considers whether an individual candidate’s policy stances are consistent with Facebook’s public policy agenda and business interests, particularly the individual’s commitment to fostering innovation and an open Internet. We also consider whether Facebook has a presence in a candidate’s district or state, whether a candidate works on policy issues that are relevant to Facebook, and whether the candidate holds a key committee or leadership position.
Zuckerberg’s prepared testimony has already been published online.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee will start at 10am ET on Wednesday, April 11. You can watch it live on the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s page.
