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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Facebook CEO says his own data was shared by Analytica

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WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO: Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday told lawmakers that he was among the 87 million or so Facebook Inc users whose data was improperly shared with political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.


But he pushed back on Congress members’ suggestions that users do not have enough control of their data on Facebook in the wake of the privacy scandal at the world’s largest social media network.


“Every time that someone chooses to share something on Facebook... there is a control. Right there. Not buried in the settings somewhere but right there,” the 33-year-old Internet magnate told the US House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee.


Zuckerberg faced questions and concerns from members of Congress about what it was doing to give users more flexibility to opt in to sharing their personal data with Facebook or third parties.


“How can consumers have control over their data when Facebook does not have control over the data?” asked Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey, the ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce committee, at the beginning of the hearing.


Zuckerberg repeatedly defended the company’s privacy practices, saying that users have control over their own data and decide what to share. But when asked if his data had been improperly used he replied: “Yes.” He gave no further details.


Once again wearing a dark suit instead of his usual gray T-shirt, the hearing was Zuckerberg’s second in two days.


On Tuesday, he took questions for nearly five hours in a US Senate hearing without making any further promises to support new legislation or change how the social network does business.


“It is inevitable that there will need to be some regulation” of Internet firms, Zuckerberg said on Wednesday, but he again steered away from any specifics.


Some lawmakers grew frustrated at their limit of four minutes each to press Zuckerberg on specifics, and chastised the billionaire at times for offering up rehearsed platitudes about valuing user privacy. — Reuters


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