Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will apologize to lawmakers on Wednesday for the company’s data scandal, according to prepared remarks released Monday.
“We didn’t take a broad enough view of our responsibility, and that was a big mistake. It was my mistake, and I’m sorry,” Zuckerberg said in the written remarks ahead of his testimony Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “I started Facebook, I run it, and I’m responsible for what happens here.”
Zuckerberg is also scheduled to appear Tuesday before at a joint meeting of the Senate judiciary and commerce committees.
He will be grilled about the use of personal data from nearly 87 million Facebook users by research firm Cambridge Analytica during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
“We didn’t do enough to prevent these tools from being used for harm,” Zuckerberg said. “That goes for fake news, foreign interference in elections and hate speech, as well as developers and data privacy.”
The Facebook founder goes on to say his company has a responsibility to make sure what happened with Cambridge Analytica “doesn’t happen again.”
“My top priority has always been our social mission of connecting people, building community and bringing the world closer together. Advertisers and developers will never take priority over that as long as I’m running Facebook.”
Zuckerberg has said he has no plans to step down from the company.
Reps. Greg Walden of Oregon and Frank Pallone of New Jersey said the hearing Wednesday is an opportunity to “shed light on critical consumer data privacy issues and help all Americans better understand what happens to their personal information online.”
“We appreciate Mr. Zuckerberg’s willingness to testify before the committee, and we look forward to him answering our questions.”
