Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been testifying before U.S. lawmakers in an attempt to shake off his firm's biggest privacy scandal to date.
He says he's responsible and he's sorry for what happened.
Ro Aram has more.
The once press shy Zuckerberg seemed calm and collected, at least for now, as he faced a barage of questions on a range of issues, including Facebook's handling of alleged Russian election meddling and hate speech.
But the main and biggest issue by far was consumer privacy.
Senators wanted to know how Cambridge Analytica - a British consultancy firm linked to the Trump campaign - harvested the personal data of 87 million users.
Zuckerberg started the hearing by apologizing for that incident….
"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. I started Facebook, I run it, and I'm responsible for what happens here."
The Facebook chief explained that an app developer, Aleksandr Kogan, got users' permission to use their data for a quiz app, but breached the terms of service by selling that information to Cambridge Analytica.
Senator Bill Nelson asked why users were not notified of the sale of their data and this was Zuckerberg's answer…
"Senator, when we heard back from Cambridge Analytica that they had told us that they weren't using the data and had deleted it, we considered it a closed case. In retrospect, that was clearly a mistake. We shouldn't have taken their word for it and we've updated our policies in how we're going to operate the company to make sure that we don't make that mistake again."
Zuckerberg is not only trying to restore public trust in his company but also to fend off possible regulations that some lawmakers have floated.
He's scheduled to testify again on Wednesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Ro Aram, Arirang News.
